


A Lovely Mess

by homeiswherethewritingis, maxxofbraavos



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Eventual Relationships, Gay Keith (Voltron), M/M, Minor Violence, Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, Slow Burn, Unrequited Crush, everyone is hot for space dad, heavy pop culture references, i haven't written a fic in years please nice to me, klance, song recommendations at the end of each chapter, take it away penny, tbh you can't blame them
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-15
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2018-08-09 00:48:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7780396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/homeiswherethewritingis/pseuds/homeiswherethewritingis, https://archiveofourown.org/users/maxxofbraavos/pseuds/maxxofbraavos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I certainly wouldn’t doubt it, Lance,” he replied, hand gone as quickly as it had been outstretched. Was that… a hint of blush splayed across Lance’s cheeks? That motherfucker. It couldn’t be. Keith wanted to deny it, wanted to believe the blush spread across Lance’s cheeks was merely from the heat in the ship. But the ship ran on some type of technology that allowed it to stay at a comfortable temperature for all of the paladins, and Lance’s blush could only be the result of one thing and one thing only: That bastard liked Shiro too.</p><p> </p><p>Based off of this post ( http://avenk.tumblr.com/post/148732957550/i-want-a-story-where-keith-and-lance-have-the ) by avenk on tumblr! I really hope everyone likes what we hope to be a long, and beautiful story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Your Local Son of a Bitch

It was long before Shiro that Keith knew he was gay. He’d been with a few guys here and there, but never anything too serious. Some of those guys were hot, some not so much; young Keith was pretty desperate. As the years went on, Keith was able to refine his taste in men and differentiate between who he was actually attracted to. Shiro was on a whole other goddamn level. Just a simple pat on the back after a training exercise together could make Keith’s knees weak. The amount of power Shiro’s attractiveness had on Keith made him want to bang his head against the wall until he knocked himself out cold.

Now, this attraction to his team leader could work out smoothly. Keith would eventually tell Shiro about his attraction and either he would be rejected or get exactly what he had secretly longed for: simple. Keith had this simple plan in his head since the moment he met Shiro; he just wanted to make sure he was willing to go through with it and then proceeded to figure out when the “right” time would be. A perfect plan, in spoken word, but actions are easier said than done. There were two problems - well, one problem was always a problem no matter the circumstance - and they prevented Keith from going through with his glorious plan. One problem was Shiro’s sexuality, which was ambiguous. No one knew which gender he preferred, or if he even felt any kind of romantic inclinations toward anyone. Even Pidge, who usually knew more about all their fellow paladins than the paladins knew about themselves, was unaware of Shiro’s orientation. It was the universe’s greatest mystery, still yet to be uncovered. The other problem was, of course, Lance.

Lance was typically a problem, but this time he was a  _real_ pain in Keith’s ass. Every time Keith went to talk to Shiro, Lance would already be there running his mouth faster than a high speed engine. It was sickening. He was normally fine putting up with Lance’s shit but this was too much even for Keith to handle. It was as if Lance was purposefully cock-blocking him, which Keith did not appreciate in the slightest. Keith wasn’t going to let Lance, of all people, stop him from getting what he wanted.

Allura had claimed the team would have a meeting at three in the afternoon to discuss various fighting tactics. Today was a lax day for the paladins, and so by the time Keith had entered the meeting room everyone was already present. Pidge sat cross-legged, hunched over their laptop and furiously typing away. Hunk stood over Pidge, making casual conversation with them and asking a few questions about the content on the laptop. Allura and Coran were having their own conversation as well, perhaps about the new techniques or the paladins themselves. Keith could care less about Allura and Coran’s conversation. Right away he had noticed Lance talking to Shiro. How Lance always manages to capture Shiro in conversation before Keith was a mystery. Keith usually let them have their conversation and made sure to not interfere, out of politeness and the want to keep up his cool demeanor. Today was different.

Keith took a few deep breaths, giving himself a mental pep-talk. This was about him, and Shiro. Lance and his feelings were the least of his worries. Keith is confident, cool, and collected. At least, that’s what he tells himself. He begins to make his way to Shiro and Lance, throwing away the notions of not interrupting their conversation in order to maintain any form of politeness.

“Afternoon, Shiro,” he says first, adding a muttered hello to Lance as well.

“Hey to you, too, asshole,” Lance says to himself offhandedly. Shiro luckily hadn’t noticed, but Keith obviously heard it. It took some strength for Keith to pick a fight with that moron. He stood up straight, trying to match the great height of the other two men... or should he say, man and boy?

“Word on the street has it that the simulator got a deadly new upgrade,” Keith said to Shiro, arching an eyebrow up at him. Aside from this actually being a sly attempt at flirting, Keith wanted to know; it wasn’t like they were going to have a meeting about it in less than ten minutes. He had to lie to himself here and there to uphold the remaining shreds of his dignity. Shiro glanced over his shoulder at the rest of the group before turning back to face Keith and Lance.

“How exactly does Pidge collect all of this information again?” Shiro asked, laughter lacing his voice. Just as Keith was about to reply, Lance cut him off. This was an especially rude awakening for Keith, considering he had almost forgotten that Lance was there.

“They kind of just know stuff. Pidge is magic or some shit. Hunk has a conspiracy theory that they have one of those time turner things, like from Harry Potter or something,” Lance replies. The smile on his face can only be described as goofy, more child-like than anything. Nonetheless, he had earned a wholehearted laugh from Shiro. Keith hoped Shiro would realize how dumb Lance actually was, and couldn’t wait to make a sarcastic comment to add to Lance’s utter ridiculousness. He then proceeded to watch in horror as Shiro gave Lance a pat on the arm.

“I certainly wouldn’t doubt it, Lance,” he replied, hand gone as quickly as it had been outstretched. Was that… a hint of blush splayed across Lance’s cheeks? That _motherfucker_. It couldn’t be. Keith wanted to deny it, wanted to believe the blush spread across Lance’s cheeks was merely from the heat in the ship. But the ship ran on some type of technology that allowed it to stay at a comfortable temperature for all of the paladins, and Lance’s blush could only be the result of one thing and one thing only: _That bastard liked Shiro too._

Lance knew the blush that had crept onto his face was painstakingly noticeable, and wasn't sure if he wanted to crawl under a rock or scream into the never-ending universe for the rest of his life. Admittedly, it wouldn't be the end of the world if Shiro noticed it - maybe he'd get the hint that Lance was into him - but the fact that Keith had been there to witness it made the whole situation worse. Lance couldn’t deny how intuitive Keith was, especially when it concerned Lance himself, and it was Keith’s attentiveness which made it simple for him to get under Lance’s skin. He can only imagine what Keith could do with this newly discovered information.

Lance smiled back at Shiro, avoiding eye contact with Keith at all costs. He hopelessly tried to get the blush off of his face. He thought of anything he could:

Star Wars.  
Earth skies.  
Cheez nips.  
Shiro’s hair.  
The beach.  
Shiro’s smile.  
Blue.  
Shiro’s laugh….  
Shiro.

**FUCK.**

He looked over at Keith, who was already glaring at him suspiciously. Yep, Lance decided, he was definitely in deep shit now.

Keith confirmed his suspicion as Lance made the mistake of looking Keith’s way, displaying his blushing face. Keith would have given anything to make a snarky comment about Lance’s state, but the meeting was about to start. He wasn’t about to get cut off again.

Allura announced the meeting to have begun, with everyone here and on time. Usually Allura would have to glance Lance’s way when she said “on time,” but there was no need for Allura to hint at Lance’s constant tardiness. Lance had been early for the past couple of meetings, and Keith no longer had to wonder why. Now, Keith had to make sure he was able to get Shiro’s attention. The only question was, how would he go about doing that? He figured the task was simple enough; all he had to do was sit in the front. He sat about a yard away from where Shiro stood above the group, one leg straight out and the other bent at the knee. He let his head fall back, taking a brief look at the ceiling before grounding himself once more. While Keith let his mind wander before anyone began to talk, he became aware of someone sitting next to him. He looked to his right and there sat the local son of a bitch, Lance. Well, maybe his mother was a nice woman. From what Keith had heard she seemed like a kind, warm-hearted woman who could still kick ass if need be. How Lance’s mother was able to handle Lance as a child, Keith would never know.

Allura cleared her throat. The four paladins looked up at her in response.

“As you all know our last mission on Oarus was a complete success, thanks to Pidge’s attack anticipation program,” Allura said, giving Pidge a warm smile, and they gave Allura a small smile in return. “Pidge and Shiro have been working together since then to create a simulated training program to make the team more self-sufficient as a team, and as individuals.”

Allura looked over to Shiro, and said, “You can take it away.”

“ _Take it away, penny,_ ” Lance mumbled to himself, laughing under his breath. He had to cover his mouth to hide his laughter.

“What was that?” Keith asked, his voice quiet yet still tinged with annoyance. Pidge, who sat behind Lance, was laughing, too. Keith couldn’t figure out _why_ such a stupid comment could be so funny, even to someone as intelligent as Pidge. Lance gave Keith a wide grin and said, teasingly, “What, you nev-”

He was interrupted by Shiro. “So Pidge and I have reprogrammed the training bots to optimize the idea of individualized teamwork. Somewhat of an oxymoron, I know, but it will better the team. Each of you have a different Bayard, but none of us are truly masters of them quite yet. The individual part of the training should help with that. The other half will focus on blending fighting styles between two or more paladins. Any questions, guys?”

Lance raised his hand, although the action was pointless because he began opened his mouth as his hand went up in the air. “Are you a part of this, too? Since you don’t have a bayard.”

Lance had managed to mask his true intentions with a valid question. Maybe Keith had underestimated him.

“Not that I could ever doubt you’re fighting skills,” Lance tacked on. That bastard.

Shiro smiled, looking flattered for a moment or two. “I’ll just be fighting with what I’ve got.” He humbly held up two fists in a defensive stance with the innocence and excitement of a young boy. It made Keith smile, one which he tried to suppress.

Looking next to him, Keith saw Lance blush once more. Keith rolled his eyes; it really didn't take much for Lance to blush. However, he really couldn’t blame Lance, not with the way Shiro’s biceps bulged out of his t-shirt. Keith had to retaliate now, and grab Shiro’s attention. He raises his hand to speak as well.

“We don’t have to work one on one with--” he shot Lance a glare, “ _everyone,_ do we?”

Shiro looked at Keith, but he couldn’t tell if Shiro’s facial expression read more sympathetic or disappointed. “Yeah, you do. Everyone is working with everyone. Pidge, anything to say before we dismiss?”

Well, that must be the end of questions. Pidge shook their head in response, adjusted their glasses and added, “That's about it,” for good measure.

Shiro clapped his hands together, looking everyone over one more time. “Class dismissed.” Everyone pushed themselves up, heading their separate ways.

Lance felt that today’s escapade was very successful. He could have sworn he made Shiro blush, and those muscles- what a time it was to be bisexual. Keith was the only complication. He obviously knew how Lance felt about Shiro now, and he couldn’t have him getting in the way. Shiro was just so… so _hot_. Lance had always considered himself more into girls than guys, but the longer he was on this ship, the more he found himself thinking about Shiro. What it would be like with his hands tangled in Shiro’s hair, their lips crashing against each other. He was addicted to the idea of it. He prayed to God that Shiro wasn’t straight.

Lance entered his room, looking it over, memorizing every aspect of it. The paladins didn’t get much notice before they suddenly became the defenders of the universe, so making the place feel more like home wasn't the easiest. Pidge had been kind enough to print him out a few posters and photos to hang up around the room. There was the iconic cover of A New Hope, a poster with the Flash on it, a photo of the entire team, and a photo of him and his family before he left Earth. That one was his favorite. Lance had also managed to tack the Cuban flag (in bandana form) to the wall as well. Against the back wall was a bookshelf. It was mainly empty aside from a couple of cool alien books he had picked up on various planets. His bed was relatively large, and he was pretty sure it was a king, if space beds had the same sizing system as they do on Earth. Lance clicked his lights out and crashed down on his bed.

What the hell was he going to do? It was like ruining Lance’s plans was Keith’s hobby. Lance often referred to him as ‘the fun police.’ If Keith knew about his, crush, let’s call it, he would definitely expose him. But why did he always have to do this? What was his motive? Lance just didn’t understand. Sometimes laying in the dark helped him figure things like that out. Sometimes it didn't.

There was a knock at his door. Lance reluctantly got up to get it, rubbing his eyes lazily as he opened it.

Apparently, if you think about ‘the fun police,’ the fun police will appear. Lance regretted even opening the door.

_Well. So much for having time to think..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey everyone! hopefully this fic is doing justice to the lovely headcanon it was based off of thus far. my best friend and i co-wrote this, so if you want to talk to us about it, be our guest!  
> maxx- pansexualjakeenglish.tumblr.com  
> pand- homeiswherethewritingis.tumblr.com
> 
> chapter song recommendation- i hate you so much by anarbor


	2. If Only

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> some spanish has began to work it's way in, all translations will be in the notes at the bottom.  
> warning- some violence in this chapter!

“What the fuck do you want?” Lance spat. He needed to be alone in order to unravel the mess of thoughts swirling around in his head. Of course, Keith had to show up at his door instead. He was the _last_ person Lance wanted to see right now.

 

“No, Lance, the real question is what the fuck do _you_ want?” Keith snapped back, matching Lance’s aggressive tone. He stepped into Lance’s room, uninvited, and then slammed the door with an unnecessary amount of force.

 

Lance sighed. Not only would he have to deal with Keith, he’d have to deal with a hot-headed Keith. He just had to play it cool, and maybe, just maybe, he could get Keith off of his case. “What’s your problem, man, why can’t you leave me alone?”

 

“Are you kidding me? I want nothing to do with you!” Keith retorted, beginning to raise his voice.

 

“Then how come you’re always raining on my parade, hombre? You can never leave me alone, you butt in on my conversations, you’re constantly attacking me, you almost broke my arm in training last week-”

 

“You’re such a moron, Lance, grow up!” Keith yelled. He slammed a clenched fist against the wall, his body shaking with pent up emotions. Lance had seen Keith pissed off, but he’d never seen him get this heated.  “You act like a little kid, you constantly hog attention but you don’t do shit!  You walk around like you’re the man Lance, but you aren’t! And you make it so obvious, Lance, you obviously like Shiro, and you’re never gonna fucking get him.”

 

Lance didn’t know what came over him after that. He dropped his cool facade, and now he almost matched Keith’s fury. _Almost._

 

“Shut up, Keith!” he screamed, his face red with anger.

 

“Why should I?” he mocked, yelling even louder.

 

“Shut. Up!” Lance was at the height of his volume, the height of his anger. He could feel adrenaline pumping through his veins, and that’s when he did it. Before he could even think about it, Lance’s clenched fist hit Keith’s jaw.

 

Lance stood still, hands still clenched in fists. At first, all he could process was his heavy breathing as he stared at the ground. He had hit Keith. _Ay dios mio. He had hit Keith._ Why did he do that? Why? Was Keith okay? Was he hurt? Lance finally forced his eyes to focus on Keith, who was popping his jaw back into place. A small part of Lance felt some pride at having been able to knock Keith’s jaw out. The rest of Lance was worried about him, and he _knew_ Keith was going to kick his ass. As Lance stared at Keith, who hadn’t yet made eye contact with Lance, he noticed something in Keith’s face. There was pain there, but something else too.

 

Lance was able to fit the last puzzle piece into its slot. His face, still full of pain from the transpiring events, softened. In the quietest, softest voice possible he said, “You like him, don’t you?”

 

“What?” Keith growled. His eyes met Lance, and Lance could see the ferocity in them. There was also a hint of surprise; Keith had never heard Lance talk in such a gentle voice before. It startled him. Keith almost considered not killing Lance after all he’d done. _Almost._

 

“You like Shiro, right? You like him?” Lance’s voice lost its gentleness and regained some of its former anger.

 

Keith looked directly into Lance’s eyes when he said, “I’m going to fucking kill you.” He practically pounced at Lance, slamming him against the wall and punching at his face over, and over, and over again. Keith was the one not thinking now, he just needed to keep throwing punch after punch. He was on autopilot mode, his emotions overriding every other function. He was so far gone that he didn’t even hear the click of the door knob.

 

“Hey, what are y-- HOLY SHIT, KEITH!” Hunk’s voice bellowed over the madness. He ran behind him, grabbing him around the waist and prying him off of Lance. A few moments of uncomfortable silence passed, which were disrupted again by Hunk. “I’m going to go get Shiro.”

 

“NO!” they both yelled in unison. Both boys looked at each other, and now they knew for certain that they both liked Shiro. Now, however, they had a common goal- stop Hunk at all costs. He looked at both of them inquisitively, although there were plenty of reasons they wouldn’t want Shiro involved in this.

 

Hunk let out a deep, stressed huff. “Fine, but you two are working this out _right now_.”

It finally occurred to Keith how weird this was. Hunk was almost never serious like this. He could be realistic at times, and was always kind, but Keith had never seen Hunk’s face take on such a concerned expression. Hunk opened the door to the room, waiting for Keith and Lance to exit before him, then ushering them around the loop in the hallway to his room. Keith thought about how close his own room was. He could just make a run for it, lock himself in, and call it a night. No, that wasn’t an option. If Keith locked himself away, then Hunk would definitely tell Shiro. Keith sighed as he followed Lance into Hunk’s room. It was very lively inside, well lit, and filled with what seemed to be tiny plants and stones. Hunk closed the door gently, gesturing for the two boys to sit on his bed. They did, sitting as far apart from each other as possible, and made sure to avoid eye contact.

 

You know that feeling when you fail a class, and your mom tells you she’s ‘not mad, just disappointed?’ Well, that it was a strict talking to from Hunk felt like. For Lance, this was like high school all over again.

 

“Listen,” he started, looking down at the both of them. “I don’t know what’s going on with you two, and I don’t care.” Hunk stopped himself there, holding a finger up. “Well, I do care, but what I’m saying is that I’m not going to intervene. This is what’s gonna happen, guys. Lance, you are going to sit in that corner,” Hunk pointed diagonally across the room, “and Keith, you are going to sit in this one.” Hunk motioned to the area behind him. Before he continued, he gestured for them to sit in their assigned seats. Lance had flashbacks to first grade when Mrs. Normback made Lance sit by himself, because there wasn’t a single person in the class he wouldn’t talk to. Despite being made to feel like little kids, - being childish was a trait both boys seemed to share, but in different ways -  they moved to their assigned positions. Keith stayed standing, leaning back against the corner while Lance sunk to a seat. Hunk began to rummage through the top drawer of his desk, pulling out a mass of markers. He lined them up across the center of the room as they both watched.

 

“You two see this line? This is the do-not-cross line. If I see this line broken I’m going to bring Shiro into this. Now here’s my comm-” Hunk took his communicator off of his wrist, leaving it on the foot of his bed. “You two are gonna work this out, I am going to go hang out with Pidge. When you two are all sorted out, you use my comm to call Pidge’s and I’ll come let you out.” His serious demeanor was starting to fade, looking more deeply worried than before. “Please don’t hurt each other, alright?” His eyes softened, but he said no more as he walked out, closing the door and setting it to lock.

 

“Great,” Keith grumbled, combing his fingers through his dark hair. Lance sat in his corner, quietly mumbling to himself in Spanish.

 

“Ay dios mio.... Él va a matarme, voy a morir, voy a morir, voy a morir. Mierdra!” He said the last word a few times, and spoke so quickly that even if Keith understood the language he wouldn’t  be able to translate it. Helplessness was not a feeling Keith enjoyed; so he fixed it.

 

“Uh,” he started, eyes fixed straight on his shoes. All he had to do was break the silence. Keith could break the silence, it wasn’t that hard. He could feel Lance staring at him now. “How’s your face?”

 

Lance wanted to reply sarcastically, _maybe you’d know how my face was if you could actually look at me_. But no, he couldn’t do that, not when Keith had actually asked about how he felt. If he was being honest, Lance felt pretty crappy. Keith definitely didn’t break his nose, but he almost had. Lance would never admit that; he did have some pride and he didn’t want to make Keith feel worse than he already did. “Nothing the healing pods can’t fix,” he said simply.

 

“You didn’t answer my question, Lance,” Keith replied, quickly this time, almost instantly. Lance glanced at him briefly before returning to the staring contest with his shoes.

 

“Yeah,” Lance said. That didn’t answer the question either, but most people didn’t notice when he used that tactic. “Sorry for, uh, y’know,” the stubborn side of Lance

begged him not to finish that statement, “punching you in the face.” He managed to push the words out smoother than expected.

 

Keith had to think before he answered Lance, an everyday skill he seemed to be underusing this afternoon. “It’s fine. If what I said got _you_ to throw a punch, I probably deserved it.”

 

“Hey!” Lance exclaimed, only mildly offended. “What’s that supposed to mean?” He sat up straight now, cocking his head at Keith. Was Keith trying to get a rise out of him? He seemed sincere just a moment ago, but-- Lance was overthinking this.

 

Keith couldn’t help it, he just started laughing. Lance had gotten so flustered over his stupid comment. Why did he get like that? Keith obviously was joking, naturally Lance could throw a punch if he’d managed to knock Keith’s jaw out of place.

 

“You’re so dumb, Lance,” he said, words ringing out between laughs. “I know you can throw a punch, chill out.” His laughter finally began to die out, fading into deep breaths, and then steady ones. The room was silent once again. Keith’s impulsive ass was tempted to bring up Shiro again. He wanted to get all of the information he could, to see how deep into this Lance was, he wanted to know the whys and hows and when, he wanted to know any information he could squeeze out of Lance. Keith also wanted to embarrass Lance while he was stuck across the room, while he couldn’t do anything about it. Maybe, Keith thought, he was just evil. He got some kind of kick knowing that he had essentially won the fight against Lance- well, he would have if Hunk hadn’t stopped it. Keith had made countless jokes about wanting to pound Lance’s face in, but he didn’t think it would feel like this. He never thought he’d actually go through with it, and he hadn’t felt any sort of satisfaction afterwards. Neither of them liked Shiro any less, it had resolved absolutely nothing, and now Lance was hurt. Keith felt kind of guilty. The room was still silent, the still air made both boys uncomfortable.

 

Lance wondered how their time in Hunk’s room would play out. He would never bring up Shiro, hell no, but how were they supposed to make amends? Neither of them were going to bring up the issue, that would only lead to more fighting. They couldn’t do that here. Lance imagined this road being a long one, and he wasn’t sure what was going to happen at the end of it. Keith wasn’t about to give up on Shiro and hand him over to Lance; he was too stubborn and feisty for that. He wasn’t the only one unwilling to go down without a fight; Lance wasn’t going to cop out this time either. A storm was coming, and Lance had to distract Keith from that. Well, there was one thing that Lance was undoubtedly amazing at-- talking.

 

“Do you wanna go through Hunk’s stuff?” Lance said, after careful contemplation. That would bait Keith in, hopefully, and then maybe they’ll get so sidetracked that they’ll end up calling Hunk to come get them.

 

Keith pondered the idea for a minute. This was the first time Keith had been in anyone else’s room aside from Pidge’s, whose room became the ‘party room’ on the ship - by party, he meant that Pidge had used spare parts to recreate a retro gaming system - and Lance’s briefly earlier today. He certainly didn’t _mind_ the prospect of investigating. He was still slightly hyped up on adrenaline, a calming activity would help him be more at ease. Keith was on the side of the room with the desk, meaning this was  all up to him.

 

“Sure,” he said, stretching his arms out as he propped himself off from his relaxed position against the wall. He hovered his hand over the first drawer in Hunk’s desk, glancing back at Lance to see if he wanted to open that one. Lance shook his head.

 

“Nah, man, go for the big one,” he prompted, pointing at the cabinet closest to the floor, which also happened to be the largest one. Keith pulled it open, peering inside. The cabinet held a bunch of paper rolled up like scrolls, with a giant pad of some kind up against the side.

 

“It’s just.. Paper. Rolled up paper.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah, come look.”

 

“Keith, I can’t, the line.”

 

“What are you, two years old? Walk over it, dumbass.”

 

An enlightened expression came over Lance’s face, as if this brilliant idea had never before occurred to him. He couldn’t be that stupid… right? Lance got up, walking across the room to the desk, hopping over the marker line carefully. Keith couldn’t help but to chuckle at the child-like action. Lance looked over Keith’s shoulder at the papers, instinctively reaching down and grabbing one. He unrolled it and the two boys looked at it in disbelief.

 

“Did you know that Hunk could draw?” Keith asked blankly.

 

“Nope,” Lance replied, eyes fixated on the page. “Did you?”

 

“No, I didn’t,” Keith said. The page had a beautiful watercolor of a sea turtle swimming under the water. Both of them were taken aback by their friend’s hidden talent. Silently, Lance pulled out a handful of the papers, sitting on Hunk’s bed to unroll them. Keith quickly joined him, unrolling scrolls until they were all laid out on the bed. There were sketches and watercolors of all different animals, sunsets, and even one sketch of Pidge on Hunk’s shoulders, which was adorable. Lance picked that one up, smiling at it genuinely. Keith couldn’t help but notice Lance’s smile. It was so different from his usual cocky grins; it was honest and pure. Keith never thought he would be able to describe any aspect of Lance as pure, but there he was, looking at Lance’s genuinely pure smile. Keith realized he had been staring at Lance for far too long, having been mesmerized by this almost new found side of Lance, and looked away before Lance could take any notice of his staring. After a couple of minutes of snooping, Keith began to put away Hunk’s artwork.

 

“What are you doing?” Lance asked, letting his feet swing to the floor with a light thud.

 

Keith rolled his eyes before looking over his shoulder, finally looking at Lance. He noticed that his face was a bit discolored and swollen. He would have a black eye if he didn’t get into a healing pod. “I’m putting them away, dumbass. Don’t you wanna get out of here?” Keith pushed the guilt away. He continued to roll the pages until Lance finally joined him.

 

“Uh, yeah. Of course I do,” he said bluntly, rolling up the last two paintings, and tossing them over into the cabinet one at a time. “Curry,” he said smugly, unable to suppress his grin.

 

Keith was, once again, confused. A small “Wha-” escaped him before he just cut himself off. It wasn’t even worth asking at this point. “Whatever, Lance. Can you get me Hunk’s comm, please?”

 

Lance reluctantly tossed it into Keith’s lap. “But we didn-”

 

“I don’t really care, Lance. I-I’m not gonna stay in here longer, alright?” his voice had turned into a desperate sounding backlash. He spoke into the comm in a steadier voice than the one he had just used. “Hey, Hunk, we’re good,” he stated calmly. He felt as if he were taking advantage of Hunk. Hunk had a trusting and forgiving nature; of course he wouldn’t think that Keith had just lied to him, that him and Lance had barely spoken at all.

 

“Alright, I’ll come let you out.” Hunk’s voice brought Lance comfort. He nudged the cabinet closed before returning to his side of the room. Keith stayed on the bed. In mere moments Hunk was at the door. Keith subconsciously let out a sigh of relief at the sight of his face. Without a word, Keith hopped off of the bed and left. Lance was soon to follow, but Hunk gently grabbed his shoulder, stopping him at the door.

 

“Are you going to be alright, Lance?” he asked quietly, Keith’s footsteps fading back down the hall.

 

The truth was that, no, Lance was not going to be alright. Lance probably wasn’t going to sleep for quite awhile, Lance just got his ass kicked, Lance liked a boy who was way out of his league, Lance missed his family, Lance missed the waves crashing on the shore, Lance missed-

 

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Thanks, Hunk.”  


“Alright, well, take care of yourself, okay Lance? If you need anything you can always talk to me.” Hunk disappeared into his room before he could reply, leaving Lance to walk back to his room alone.

 

He wound up laying down in the dark once again, this time listening to Spanish Sahara by Foals.

 

_So I walked into the haze..._

 

His eyes began to flutter closed.

 

_And a million dirty ways._

 

The bed was so soft, and his face hurt, and it had been an eventful day.

 

_Now I see you lying there…_

 

He remembered Keith hitting him over and over.

 

_Like a lilo losing air._

 

He also remembered the way Keith had laughed.

 

_Black rocks and shoreline sand..._

 

All Lance wanted was to be on the beach, maybe when the sun was setting, maybe with someone he loved.

 

_Still that summer I cannot bear._

 

If only Keith wasn’t so hot headed.

 

_The Spanish Sahara, the place that you’d wanna…_

 

If only.

 

_Leave the horror here._

 

Lance never got to finish the song. He was asleep before the chorus hit.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ay dios mio- oh my god  
> él va a matarme- he's gong to kill me  
> voy a morir- i'm going to die  
> mierdra- shit  
> song of the chapter- spanish sahara by foals
> 
> thank you everyone for your kind words so far! this was my first time writing a fist fight scene and i had a ton of fun with it <3
> 
> \- maxx  
> \-------
> 
> plz make "take it away, penny" a meme... please. It's all we want. But also thank you to everyone has read this fic so far, and for all the lovely comments! Also thanks if you've stuck around and read this second chapter. We have so much fun writing this fic, probably way too much fun, but maxx writes like a fiend and I'm the editing hoe who edits and writes stuff in. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :D
> 
> \- Pand (homeiswherethewritingis)


	3. Daydream Much?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is about everyone individually training. A direct Parks & Rec reference. Spot the Harry Potter reference, if you can find it I applaud you! I almost didn't spot it when I was editing, heh. Enjoy this chapter guys! Be ready for chapter 4 next week. Be. Ready.

Lance, having woken up at 2 a.m. from falling asleep so early, was able to sneak into a healing pod before anyone had woken up. It took only a half hour for Lance’s face to heal. He returned from the healing pod back to his bed, only to discover that going back to sleep would not be an option. 

 

When Lance heard the other paladins begin to wake up, he didn’t even flinch. He was beaten up yesterday, his rival was pining after the same guy as him, and all Lance wanted to do today was have a day to himself. He needed this day just to think everything over and to construct a solid plan, that involved humiliating Keith as much as possible and winning over Shiro.

 

Hunk, being the great friend he was, covered for Lance without much explanation. Hunk told the group that Lance wasn’t feeling too well, which is what Lance had told Hunk, and it wasn’t too far from the truth - he  _ did  _ get his ass kicked yesterday.

 

It was later that night when Lance heard a knock at his door. The knocking surprised him, and so he said they could come in. To Lance’s relief, the person at the door was Hunk with a tray full of food. He was glad to see Hunk but even happier to see the food. Not leaving his room meant that Lance had skipped meals, having to survive on the minimal snacks he kept hidden in his room. Lance thanked Hunk as he handed the tray of food over to Lance, who sat upright on his bed with a pillow supporting his back. As Hunk quietly left the room, Lance glanced down at his attire. He could only imagine what he had looked like to Hunk. He was still in his snowman pajama pants, he hadn’t brushed his hair, and he hadn’t even showered this morning. He wasn’t ready to risk running into Keith just to take a shower. No, he’d be ready to take on the group tomorrow. Hunk and Lance had been friends for a long time and therefore Hunk had seen Lance in this state before. Thankfully, it had been Hunk who had been the one to knock on Lance’s door. If it had been Keith - or even worse, Shiro - he might have died.

 

It had been halfway through the day when Lance had finally stopped ignoring his problems. He mapped out his game plan, and as he ate the food Hunk had brought him, he thought it over once more. For one, he was gonna look fly as fuck tomorrow. He was breaking out  _ the nice jeans _ . Secondly, there was an individual training session tomorrow, the first one of the new program. Keith and Shiro were clearly the superior fighters out of all the paladins, but they weren’t the superior fighters of the entire group; Allura could kick everyone’s ass. Despite not being one of the top fighters of the group, Lance knew he had to make himself stand out tomorrow. His bayard was an energy rifle, which he thought was super cool and sci-fi-ish; although, his life was kind of a sci-fi series now. Lance had to admit that there wasn’t much finesse to his fighting style, if he even had one. He’d been called a ‘natural sharp shot” once or twice, whatever that meant. He kind of just shot in the right direction and hoped that it hit the right thing. Lance’s plan there was simple- pay attention. He was sure he could out-fight Keith if he tried, right?

 

Wrong. The next morning, Lance would learn that he was painfully wrong. 

 

He showed up for breakfast, which he almost always chose to sleep through. He’d woken up an hour earlier than usual just to prepare himself to break hearts at the breakfast table with his nice jeans, his hair styled in a way which his sisters used to call ‘the fluffy thing’ which was boyishly handsome-- fuck combat,  _ that _ was Lance’s speciality. The group looked somewhat in awe as he joined them, although Keith didn’t seem at all surprised. 

 

Pidge grabbed their glasses from beside their bowl, putting them on to get a better look at Lance. “Lance are you wearing… an unwrinkled shirt?” With their glasses on, Lance knew that Pidge could see clearly, yet they kept blinking as they stared at him.

 

He aimed finger-guns at Pidge. “Treat yo-self.” At that, Pidge giggled.

 

“I didn’t know you were into Parks and Rec, Lance.” The two of them high-fived. Lance could feel Keith’s eye roll from where he stood.

 

“You do look good, Lance,” Shiro chimed in from behind his mug. He took a deep sip as Lance beamed with pride. Now Keith was definitely paying attention, glaring up at Lance, shielded by his stupid black mop. Lance’s pride soared as he knew he had Keith beat in at least one area. He was hoping he could beat him in training, too. Keith scarfed down the rest of his breakfast and stood up. 

 

“I’m going to the training room early,” he announced, turning on his heels and walking out. The rest of the group exchanged uneasy glances and returned to their food.

 

Keith wasn’t really worried about training. In his life on Earth he’d seen things that would make training bots look like dust bunnies.  His bayard functioned as if it were an extension of his arm; two bots weren’t a huge problem. The five paladins all stood in the shape of a giant pentagon, each of them standing in a their own circle made of tape. As Keith understood it, they were all fighting two-on-one with bots programmed to make their bayard the inferior weapon. For Keith, this meant he would be up against some kind of blaster or gun. He had to be prepared to block shots, and hoped it would look flashy enough to attract Shiro’s attention.

 

The bots rose from the floor on either side of him. Keith had called it; the bots he was up against were armed with guns. Given they were always equipped with foam bullets for training, they still hurt like a motherfucker if you got hit.

 

“Everyone ready?” Shiro called out to the room. The other four all gave shouts of confirmation, Keith included. A quick glance at Shiro showed that he was fighting against bots equipped with daggers. Oh God, he was going to take them down with his bare hands, that was so hot.

 

A sharp pain in his side brought Keith back down to the here-and-now. He had gotten so caught up in Shiro that he hadn’t heard the start bell.

 

Kei t h sn a pped right into the battle, beginning to bloc k th e shots that the bots f i red a t him, dodging them if he could. The second bullet th a t managed to nick him hit his shoulder. Being hit only fired Keith up more, causing him to  w e a ve through the middle of the two bots to the edge of his circle. Now, both of them were forced to face him the same wa y . He  p r e ssed the blade of his sword agai n st the left bot’s gu n , slicing through it as if it were a single piece of  y arn.

 

Lance was desperately blasting at the bots on either side of him, who were wielding weapons that he could only assume were stun guns. He hadn’t gotten hit by a ray yet, and he didn’t plan on it. He had always wondered where his dance skills would have a practical application. Now, when he was swaying in every which way to dodge beams, he silently thanked his younger self for being the life of the party. Lance couldn’t help but to glance over at Keith. He had essentially brought a knife to a gunfight, but there he was, seconds away from disarming them. In the meantime, Lance screamed in pain as a jolt of electricity immobilized his body. 

 

“Who was that?” Shiro’s voice bellowed over the noise of the room. He was still fighting and yet he still found time to care. Lance’s heart was now also immobilized. “Are you okay?” he asked.

 

“I’m alright!” Lance called back, his body finally returning to life. He blasted bot number one in it’s head, hitting it long enough for it to shut down. He couldn’t help but to look over at Keith again. He was laughing. Keith was  _ laughing _ at him. That wasn’t going to fly by Lance; he decided to try some unconventional fighting. He swung the butt of his rifle around to hit the bot hard in the head. It’s cranium fell to the side like Nearly Headless Nick. Feeling like he did the other day when he argued with Keith, beastlike, he looked around. Pidge was the only one still fighting their bots. Lance aimed his gun at the bot that Pidge had left, the one they were desperately fighting with their tiny bayard. Lance shot it through the chest and it deactivated. Pidge looked up from their hunched, tired position to look at Lance. 

 

“Thank you,” they said simply.

 

“What are friends for?” Lance replied with the utmost pride. Keith was no longer laughing. 

 

The group converged in the middle of the room, all fistbumping eachother sloppily. Lance made sure that his hands did not touch Keith’s stupid gloves. He did give Pidge a hug, however. Pidge seemed so small compared to Lance. Lance was 6’1 while Pidge barely broke 5 feet. When he hugged Pidge he felt like a big brother again. He hugged them tightly, letting his forehead dip down to the top of Pidge’s hair. It kind of hurt his back, but he didn’t care. Lance needed this. Lance needed this stupid hug and he didn’t even know it. He kind of felt like he was going to cry.

 

“You can, uh, let go of me now, Lance,” Pidge mumbled from their current position smushed into Lance’s shirt. Lance frantically let them go, but Pidge just shook their head. 

 

“Treat yourself, right?”

 

Lance couldn’t suppress his smile.

 

Training hurt Lance physically, frying his nerve endings and making his body ache. Video replay was a different kind of hurt. Watching videos of himself doing anything made him cringe, let alone a video of him helplessly fighting. He was lucky enough to have time because, fortunately, the videos would play in the order they had finished. 

 

Keith smirked to himself as his video was the first to play. That would definitely demand Shiro’s attention-- he had outranked the man himself. His internal self praise was rudely interrupted by the laughter of the group. The video had started and the group saw him take a shot to the torso.

 

“Daydream much, pretty boy?” what could only be Lance’s voice teased from the back of the room.

 

“Oh, fuck you,” Keith replied, pumping sarcasm into his voice. Everyone’s laughter had faded, focusing back on the video. The Keith on-screen was fighting back now, or participating, really. It didn’t take too long for him to realize that he could bait both training bots to face him at once. He slashed the triggers of their guns, and then their metal throats. Shiro paused the video at it’s end, looking over at Keith.

 

“I don’t have much to say, man,” he admitted. “Aside from those two hits, you’re solid. I would have never thought to slice the triggers.”

 

Hunk gave Keith a congratulatory clap on the back - which caused Keith to jerk forward - and they moved onto video two. As Keith already knew, Shiro was the second finisher. Already knowing that he wasn’t the first, this came as a shock to no one. Shiro didn’t even have a bayard, yet he fought so expertly against the two armed bots. Keith relished in being able to watch him at work with no shame, his eye’s skimming Shiro’s ridiculous body as he twisted, punched, jabbed… 

 

No one dared give Shiro any ‘constructive criticism.’ He didn’t need it; his fighting was good, precise, and smooth. Shiro made fighting look like a dance, as if doing what he had done was simple. He was a bad-ass, end of story. On a side note, Keith totally wanted a piece of that ass.

 

The video series moved onto the next finisher, Hunk. Lance could never get over his bayard, it was literally just a big ass cannon. Lance wouldn’t have expected Hunk’s bot’s weapon selection. They donned blast proof armor. The best offense can be a good defense, Lance supposed. Hunk had this weird talent for never going into a state of panic. He shot at one at first, only to see that it had no effect. It took Hunk a few shot’s to realize that his entire fight would have to be unconventional. He began by prodding and swiping at the bots with the front of his cannon, but he realized that that wasn’t working. Dodging what would have been a nasty kick, he tested out the back of his cannon. That began his winning thought process, sending the robot in front of him skidding backwards. The bot behind him landed a blow, so he attacked that one. The pattern continued until Hunk used the length of his cannon to smack them down barricade style. Shiro paused the video.

 

“So Hunk,” he began. “The main problem here, well really the only one, is your sense of awareness. You have to try to have eyes in the back of your head, or you could get attacked from behind or even above like that in battle.” Hunk nodded and allowed Shiro to finish. “Smart thinking with using the side of it. That worked quite well.”

 

Oh boy. It was Lance’s turn. Lance used his hands to cover his eyes, only peeking out at the video through the cracks between his nimble fingers. He was so frazzled at first, jumping back and forth to avoid beams like he was road runner. Then there was the part - oh no, there he was getting stunned. Keith was laughing again, Lance already knew he was going to say something.

 

“Daydream, much?” Keith echoed his own words back to him. Lance flipped him the middle finger. On the screen, Lance’s face got serious. He knocked the second bot with the back of his rifle, then turned to shoot Pidge’s.

 

“I didn’t know you could get angry like that, Sanchez.” Shiro’s voice was the first to speak.

 

“What the hell happened there?” Hunk asked curiously.

 

Lance had always been a fantastic liar, but his brain was scrambling for answers. He was going to make himself look stupid no matter which path he took, this was a lose-lose situation. Lance just decided to roll with it. “I wanted to see who else was left.”

 

Keith was still looking incredibly smug. Lance knew that he saw right through him. However, the act seemed to work well enough for everyone else. 

 

“Try not to do that,” Shiro said with a chuckle. “And although using the back of the rifle worked, I’d try out some head and chest shots. Try to channel that anger when you need it. Otherwise, a  pretty good job, Lance.” Considering he had ended with a compliment, Lance decided not to try and defend his fight; he just nodded. 

 

Pidge’s video would be the last one shown. Pidge’s bayard was tiny just like them. It had a grapple function, but that couldn’t be applied in this exercise. Watching 

Pidge fighting against two bots wielding longswords made the whole group nervous. Their fight was mostly defensive; there was a lot of ducking and a lot of blocking. Pidge finally took the first one out by slashing it behind it’s knees. Damn, if that wasn’t the most intelligent take-down Lance has ever seen... The other bot really gave Pidge a hard time, even slashing them once. Lance eventually swooped in like the hero he is and shot it down.

 

Shiro laid down the law on this one very clearly. “Pidge,” he said. “I’m going to teach you how to fight krav maga.”

 

Keith and Lance’s mind both darted to the same conclusion; Pidge, you lucky paladin. The group was dismissed to the showers and to their own whims until dinnertime. They were warned that there would be some kind of ‘team building exercise’ after dinner, which was troublesome to everyone besides Coran who seemed to know exactly what was going to happen. As the team dispersed, Pidge grabbed Lance by the end of his sleeve and pulled him aside.

 

“You wanna tell me what that was all about, Lance?” they asked.

 

Oh shit. Pidge was onto him. “Uh, what do you mean?” Lance replied, already glancing around for another paladin to bail him out of this conversation. The corridor was as vacant as an abandoned hospital. That was just Lance’s luck. He would have to weasel his way out of this one without any help.

 

“Shooting down my bot, that hug? Seriously, Lance, you can tell me what’s wrong.” That was such a tempting offer. He wanted nothing more than for someone to listen to him and to let him cry when it was all over; but he couldn’t. Lance could never allow himself, couldn’t let himself open up like that. He couldn’t be a burden.

 

“I’m fine, Pidge, it was just an adrenaline thing.” Lance figured that was a good enough excuse. He  _ hoped  _ it would be good enough.   
  


Pidge raised an eyebrow at him and gave him a look he knew was designed to yank out the truth. Lance didn’t give in. “Well you know where my room is when you want to tell me what’s actually going on.” At that Pidge went off, heading down the hallway by theirself.

 

Lance stood in the hallway for a while. He knew he should talk to someone about how he felt and not keep it all bottled in. He knew Pidge would be the perfect person to talk to about those kind of things, because Pidge was logical and understanding and good with feelings. But Lance couldn’t find it in him to head to Pidge’s room and let it all out. The guilt weighed him down too much; he knew Pidge was going through a lot. The last thing he wanted to do was dump his problems onto someone who had so much to deal with already. He  _ could _ have gone to Pidge’s room, they wouldn’t have minded at all considering they had been the one to offer it. Instead, Lance headed towards the showers. He could talk out his feelings, or he could disguise them with jokes and showers. Jokes and showers sounded like the better, guilt-free option. 

 

He left the hallway thinking about the warm shower that awaited him, and nothing else.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhh so I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, it was a long one to edit. I only finished editing it an hour or so before this was uploaded because life and procrastination. I get too distracted when Kelly Clarkson comes on shuffle, her songs are too jammable. anyway, enjoy this chapter! Chapter 4 will be up next week. Thanks for all your kudos and comments, we appreciate them all!
> 
> song recommendation: Tie Your Mother Down by Queen
> 
> \- Pand (homeiswherethewritingis)


	4. Pretty Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How to summarize this chapter? Well...
> 
> (1) It's pretty gay  
> (2) Keith is thirsty af  
> (3) Shiro is an oblivious ball of sunshine  
> (4) There is a lot of "pretty boy's" being thrown around  
> (5) I mean, the chapter is called pretty boy. Take what you will from that.

All Keith wanted to do was shower in peace and quiet. He did _not_ sign up for shirtless Shiro walking into the showers while he was mid-shampoo. Keith froze at the sight as shampoo poured down his face and into his mouth. This chain of events then caused him to desperately start spitting shampoo out of his mouth, a sight that was nothing but comical and one that completely embarrassed Keith. Shiro eyed him and tried to suppress his laughter as Keith finished spitting out the shampoo in embarrassment and anger.

 

Keith wouldn’t say he was in poor physical condition, not by any means. Keith was toned, maybe even muscular, and he was happy with his progress. However, Keith was a _walking stick_ compared to Shiro. He was god-like, even more so with his metal arm. Scars stretched over ridiculous amounts of sculpted muscle, strangely enough adding to his attractiveness. To put it bluntly, Shiro had the body of a Calvin Klein model.

 

Keith would have to force himself to make some kind of conversation. He couldn’t just stand there awkwardly, day-dreaming about how hot Shiro was. Him and Shiro were close, even before the team became defenders of the universe, so Keith figured starting a conversation wouldn’t be too hard.

 

“Hey, Shiro,” he said, trying to make himself sound as level-headed as possible.

 

“Hey, Keith,” Shiro responded, heading over to a shower cubby with a towel and his toiletry bag. As Shiro entered next to him, Keith began to question his own religion. He could have been wrong in declaring his atheism because only a God could have created Shiro. So maybe, Keith decided, _just maybe,_ God did exist.

 

“I know I said it before, but really good job out there, man.”

 

Keith couldn’t help but to imagine how ‘babe’ would sound off of his lips. He had to stop getting distracted, he had to keep the conversation running. “Thanks,” he said simply. Now to tack on a corny, Lance-like comment. The worked for Lance, so why not him? “But you should give yourself more credit, you finished right behind me. You didn’t even have a weapon.” That was as Lance-like a comment as Keith could bring himself to say. Smothering wasn’t really his thing.

 

“Well, this thing does pack one hell of a punch.” Shiro lifted his metal arm, bending it at the elbow as if he was flexing, and laughed. That was it, Keith was gone. He could feel his composure slipping through his finger like tiny grains of uncooked rice, blush rising to fill his pale face like a helium balloon. Keith acted on instinct.

 

He opened his mouth and just let his quick wit do the talking. “So where’d you learn krav maga anyway?” In moments like these, Keith was happy that he’d had to fend for himself growing up. It had helped him to develop these kind of conversational skills.

 

Shiro started running the water, speaking to Keith over his shoulder. “When I was about Lance’s age, I--” Keith immediately tuned out. Oh no. Shiro had mentioned _Lance_ and Keith _knew_ that Lance _always_ happens to appear when he’s mentioned in a conversation.

 

Well, speak of the devil and he shall appear; there was Lance, entering the shower as confident as ever. With a towel draped over his shoulder and two bottles in his right hand, Lance entered the cubby on Shiro’s other side. Keith glanced him up and down, and he wasn't entirely sure why he did so, but convinced himself it was to size up his competition. Lance was more lean than Shiro or himself, but he still had some semblance of muscle. His back and shoulders were broad, Keith noted, and although he rarely spotted Lance working out he clearly had muscle. Lance was no Shiro, and he didn’t train as much as Keith did, but he was still fit. He really wasn’t a bad looking guy.

 

“Hey Shiro,” he began excitedly. “Keith,” he tacked on in a more dull tone. Fuck, now this kid thought he could steal his lines, his methods? Game on.

 

“Hey, _Lance,_ ” Keith replied through gritted teeth. “Excited for the team bonding after dinner?” Because Keith wasn’t. The only one he wanted to bond with was Shiro. In a bed. Naked. Right now.

 

“Oh yeah. _So_ excited, Keith.” Now the room had come to an uncomfortable silence. The exit beckoned for Keith, but he refused. He wasn’t leaving Lance and Shiro in here alone. He’d had enough of Lance’s bullshit these last few days. Lance obviously recovered quickly, any other guy would steer clear of Keith after a beating like the one he gave Lance. Or maybe he just always wanted to be in Keith’s way. Keith decided he really wasn’t sure which it was, and finished rinsing the shampoo out of his hair.

 

Shiro must have been done in the blink of an eye, because by the time Keith had opened his eyes again, he was over at the big mirror. He appeared to be shaving with a straight razor. Keith wondered just how much more of this he could even bear. As Keith began to quickly apply conditioner into his hair, he saw Shiro slapping on aftershave, and packing up his things. Oh _shit._ Keith tried to telepathically beg Shiro not to leave, not to leave him here with Lance. Surprisingly, it didn’t work.

 

Shiro rested his bag over his shoulder, a navy blue towel slung around his hips. Keith wanted to die. “I’ll leave you two. See ‘ya at dinner.” Now Keith _really_ wanted to die. Shiro walked out quickly after his salutation. Mysteriously, Keith’s forehead found the tile wall.

 

“You alright there, Kogane?” Lance’s voice rang out from where he stood two stalls over. Keith looked up at him with a deep sigh and a dead expression.

 

“I’m just fucking _peachy_ , Lance. Peachy.” Keith returned to his position under the water, rinsing the conditioner out of his hair.

 

“You look more like a cherry to me,” Lance said in return. Keith could hear the smirk in his voice over all of the running water. He was disgusted, but he couldn’t help looking over at Lance.

 

“As if, you look like a red pool noodle.” A red pool noodle. That was the best he could come up with. A red. Motherfucking. Pool Noodle. Lance was bent at the waist, laughing hysterically at Keith’s terrible excuse of a comeback. Keith took the opportunity to sneak out; he wrapped a towel around his hips, shoved his many bottles into his shower bag, and headed towards the door. But of course, Lance noticed.

 

“You can run, but you can’t hide, pretty boy!” he said, voice raised as Keith slipped out the door. Keith wondered why Lance called him pretty boy so often. Of course, Keith didn’t _mind_ being called that even if Lance was the one saying it. He just found it strange that Lance would call him pretty boy as often as he did.

 

During Keith’s ponderment over the whole “pretty boy” incident, Hunk walked down the corridor with wet hair. Keith looked up at him with a confused expression, pausing just as he would have passed him. “Hunk,” he began, hoping not to make the question awkward. “How is your?... I was just?...” He pointed at the shower room door in hopes that Hunk would understand.

 

“Oh, Pidge and I have a schedule. I thought that was common knowledge.” Hunk shrugged, patted Keith on the back, and continued on his merry way. That explained how the boys never saw Hunk in the showers, yet he was always clean. This whole time, Hunk had been using Pidge’ shower. Keith doubted Pidge would have let any of the others use their shower - not that Keith wanted to, since the showers gave him a chance to see Shiro without his shirt on - but Hunk was always an exception. It was hard to say no to Hunk; he had such a kind heart.

 

After questioning Hunk, Keith made his way to his room. When Keith goes to open the door, one hand holding his towel in place while the other reached to press the button allowing the door to slide open, Lance somehow blocks the button with his entire body. Keith, surprised by Lance’s sudden appearance, revokes the hand reached out to press the button and instinctively begins to go into a fighting stance, almost dropping his towel in the process.

 

Lance laughs, head thrown back with one hand securely on his towel. He gives Keith a borderline flirtatious grin, although both boys would claim the grin was nothing but mischievous. “Look, pretty boy,” Lance begins, “Your good looks will only get you so far with Shiro. I’ve got charm _and_ I’ve mastered the art of flirtation. I’m not going to give up on Shiro anytime soon. You may want to up your game if you’re going to win him over, _pretty boy._ ”

 

Lance confidently walks away before Keith can even try to come up with a response which is fortunate for Keith, considering how his last comeback involved calling Lance a pool noodle. Lance takes a glance back at Keith, who slammed his hand onto the button so hard it would have broke if it wasn’t such advanced alien technology. He watches as Keith, clearly pissed off now, walks into his room before closing the door.

Lance had always wondered how even the smallest of things could get Keith so riled up. Maybe he couldn’t read people like Keith could, but even Lance could tell that Keith had a lot to hide. Under his whole dedicated emo boy facade, Lance knew that Keith was frustrated; sad, even. The brotherly, loving part of Lance always begged to ask him about it, but he never did. They were in competition, after all, and Lance doubted Keith would want to talk about his pent up emotions _especially_ to Lance.

 

Lance entered his room with a swift tap of a button, locking himself in to avoid any interaction while he made himself look good. The reaction he got this morning was way more than worth it. He took care in making himself look nice again for dinner, opting for a white t-shirt and open plaid flannel which was, of course, in blue. He felt almost Earthly in this kind of outfit; Lance was always a sucker for flannel. He somehow wrangled his hair into doing that retro style fluffy thing again. Having finished, he looked at his reflection in the mirror, winking at himself, clutching the unbuttoned edges of his overshirt. He struck a few more poses in the mirror, letting his appearance sink in. _You look good,_ he told himself. _You pull of the disheveled cute boy look like no other._

 

Now oozing with confidence, Lance pressed the button to his room, expecting the door to open, only to realize that he had locked it. Hurriedly, he unlocked the door, and then proceeded to exit. For once in his damn time on this ship no one else was in the hallway with him. He couldn’t help but to put some pep in his step; he was always instantly put in a good mood when he thought he looked good. A few dance moves worked their way into his walk, Lance feeling at home in the hallway, and in himself.

 

“Smooth moves, Lance!” Pidge’s voice called out from behind him. Lance’s face dropped to a scowl. He should have known; you’re never alone on this damn ship. Never. “Glad to know your feeling better.” Without having to turn around, Lance heard Pidge scurry to catch up with him, their footsteps quickening into more of a quick run than a walk.

 

Lance looked down at Pidge with a sinister smile. “There was nothing to feel better about, so I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He tilted his chin up, continuing his march down the hall with his head high. This was partially out of pride, but also out of fear that Pidge would look him in the eyes and yank the truth right out of him. 6’1 felt so sweet, and 4’9 had never looked so scary.

 

“Mmmmmmhm,” Pidge replied just as the two of them walked through the doors to the dining hall, each taking their regular seats, which were on either side of Hunk. Lance’s position was the most advantageous-- far away enough from Keith, the protection of Hunk, and with a clear view of Shiro. Keith was even luckier than Lance, however. Keith was just as far away but he sat next to Shiro. Lance had practically fantasized about that spot, spending all of that time with Shiro every single night at dinner. He’d be close enough to playfully nudge him, to ruffle his hair, hold his hand under the table, to rest his hand on his thigh and-- Lance mentally scolded himself for thinking such unsanitary thoughts: What a sinner.

 

Lance stretched his arms out, cracking his back before settling down with his elbows on the table. His mother used to slap him upside the head each time he did that, and once he left home he had been afraid to do so for quite a while. After about a year away from his family, he was able to do things like put his elbows on the table without the fear of being slapped upside the head or yelled at. He always marvelled at how certain people have mannerisms that they obviously suppress, like he had to with putting his elbows on the table. Shiro, Lance had noticed, often reaches to touch his scar but then forces himself to touch his hair or the back of his neck instead. Keith always clenched his fists for long periods of time, which is why his nails were short; he broke them that way. Lance had noticed that one recently.

 

Dinner was normal, although Coran dropped constant reminders of the upcoming exercise. Pidge was smiling the whole time. They had their laptop on the table and they checked it occasionally. No one was completely sure what Pidge was always doing on their laptop, but there was an unspoken rule not to question it. Today, Pidge seemed to know exactly what was going on. It was completely possible Pidge had helped with this exercise, since they were great at organization.

 

By the end of dinner, everyone got up rather nervously. Allura took the lead, bringing the paladins into the big, open area of the control room. A large mat was set up for them. They all gathered around Allura and Coran in a semicircle.

 

“This is something that Shiro made based off of some of his training on Earth. He wanted to participate, so I will as well, and Coran will administrate. I’m sure you all know that he’s been very excited to do so,” Allura began. The group all caught the giggles at that, including Coran himself. “Shiro has you paired up.” She glanced down at a sheet of paper which previously dangled from her hand. “Myself and Pidge, Lance and Keith, Shiro and Hunk.” Keith and Lance both groaned quietly, but collectively. How could Shiro have played them like that?

 

Everyone scurried off into pairs. Coran took the head on the group triumphantly. Pidge was standing next to Allura happily, practically beaming. Allura was also smiling her normal, peaceful smile. Hunk and Shiro were talking to each other about god-knows what already; those two were always discussing something. Keith and Lance stood next to one another like two strangers on the bus. No eye contact at all, both stiff as boards and neither saying a word to the other, yet both were highly aware of the other’s presence. Coran continued on as upbeat as ever.

 

Coran read off of his own piece of paper, his index finger finding a point near the top of the page. “The first one everyone should know, it is apparently a common exercise on Earth called a trust fall.” Everyone had a different reaction. Pidge was explaining to  Allura how a trust fall worked, and Keith found the dynamic of a confused Allura and a technical Pidge to be comical. Keith glanced at Lance and was surprised to see his fellow paladin looking fearful. Lance, Keith observed, was struggling to maintain this cool demeanor. His hands were shaking and he anxiously bit at his lip. Was Lance really afraid of a stupid trust fall? He flew a lion in space for crying out loud, how could he be afraid of a trust fall?

 

Then it hit Keith: Lance was afraid because he didn’t trust him. Keith felt a pang of sadness over the realization, but he pushed it to the side. Coran continued reading off instructions. “The taller person will catch the shorter person first, and then switch. Keep going until you can fall back with no hesitation.”

 

Lance seemed to be more at ease knowing that he was going second. Keith, on the other hand, never really minded trust falls. He had a logical perspective on them- worst that could happen, you fall on the floor. A simple trust fall wasn’t a big deal; not for Keith. Everyone began to get into position, falling into each other’s arms at one time or another. Keith checked over his shoulder to check that Lance was actually standing behind him.

 

“You’re not going anywhere, right?” Keith asked sarcastically.

 

“I wish I could, but for the sake of appearances I’m glued here,” Lance replied with a grin. This comment was merely banter; if Lance dropped Keith, Lance would beat himself up about it for days. The guilt would crush him.

 

“Suck my dick,” Keith snarled. He turned his head to face front again. With just a tinge of hesitation, Keith stuck his arms out and fell backwards. Surely enough, Lance caught him in an instant with a tight grip. Keith stood back up, holding his arms out to do another trust fall.

 

“You’re going again?” Lance hissed at the sight of it.

 

“Well yeah, I hesitated,” Keith explained, not even bothering to turn around.

 

“But why the fuck would someone wanna do that twice?” Lance was quieter now, but his voice has turned into a hurried whine.

 

“Three.”

 

“Keith, madre de dios, what are you doing?”

 

“ Two,”

 

“You’re literally a lunatic, Keith, you’re in-”

 

“One.” Keith fell backwards again and Lance, although frazzled, and slightly irritated, instinctively caught him. “Easy peasy. You’re turn, pretty boy.” Keith felt like he had so much power, given to him by Lance’s fear of a simple training exercise.

 

“Get your own name to use, _you’re_ the pretty boy here,” Lance said after having switched roles in the exercise. Now, Lance had to fall and it was Keith’s job to catch him.

 

“Alright, Cubano, whatever,” Keith chuckled. Now Lance was subconsciously stalling. _How cute,_ Keith thought. He smirked. Lance had managed to turn himself around now, but he just stood there, arms slightly raised. “Why aren’t you falling?” Keith asked.

 

“I-I... shut, your quiznak, Keith!” Lance was very defensive, and so obviously nervous. Keith saw all of his options displayed to him in his head. He had a huge upper hand in this moment, and his reply could be a numerous amount of things. His answer would turn out to be more of an impulsive choice than a logical one.

 

“What, you don’t trust me?” Out of all his options, _all his choices,_ Keith had said _that_. He could have teased him more, prompted him, but no. He had to bring up something as fragile as trust and send himself in a state of internalized agony.

 

“Uh, no, I do.. I think I do.” Lance’s voice was always so quick to change with his emotions. He sounded humbled, for once.

 

Keith couldn’t fully control his impulses sometimes. Right now, he couldn’t control them at all. He was just saying things, and his body was just moving itself. He found his hands moving from their ready-to-catch position, to rest on Lance’s sides.

 

“I’ve got you, pretty boy. Not even I could let you fall,” Keith mumbled. Internally, Keith was screeching. He reprimanded himself non-stop, how was he saying that, why was he saying that, why, why, why.

 

Lance fell back into his arms. If Keith hadn’t known any better, he would have said it happened in slow motion.

 

Lance stayed there for a moment, looking a lot smaller than Keith at the particular moment. He let out a sigh of relief and looked up to Keith.

  
“You’re the pretty boy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helllloooo everyone! Sorry for the late publication! That was my fault, I was way way behind on editing and hadn't been feeling good this week. Our new date for uploading chapters is going to be Sunday (Monday the latest) since school is starting back up which will give us less time to work on the fic.
> 
> Annnnyway, I loved this chapter so much (I wrote a whole section myself this time; the scene with Lance's speech to Keith about needing to step up his game and shit, that was my lil section). Maxx wrote an amazingly gay ending which I barely edited because it was so beautifully gay and Klance. I also love Shiro so much, he's like the group dad but hes also a small child deep down. Shiro is a fun, older brother who has seen and been through too much. I'm hoping maybe we will end up including a Shiro and Pidge scene, since their dynamic on the show is so family-like. I don't know if we will (maxx does like the bulk of the story and the storyline itself, so idk, also the story is mostly centered around Keith and Lance and is really written in their points of view, so who knows whats gonna happen!). But alright I'm gonna shut up because who really reads this anyway? 
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Make sure to leave comments and kudos, we love hearing from you guys! :D
> 
> song recommendation: Jenny by Studio Killers
> 
> \- Pand (homeiswherethewritingis)


	5. Tetris

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So... this chapter! Basically a team exercise so we get some dialogue from all the characters. Coran, is of course, included and not forgotten. How could we forget Nigel???
> 
> Enjoy this chapter, everyone! (also i'm putting song recommendations in the chapter summary now instead of the notes so yay!)
> 
> song recommendation: Runs In The Family by Amanda Palmer
> 
> (side note: I really like Amanda Palmer, I would also recommend her song "In My Mind" and I would ALSO recommend anything written by her husband, Neil Gaiman. They're both really cool people.)

“This exercise will require the entire group to work together,” Coran read off the pad. “Pick two people to throw under the bus.” Coran looked confused; what was a bus, and why would someone being throwing anyone under it?

 

“Shiro,” Pidge said quickly, grinning devilishly. “Sorry, dad, but you never get the butt of it anymore.”

 

“What did you just call me?”

 

Lance and Keith, who were standing next to each other, both covered their mouths. “Hell yeah, he’s daddy, alright,” Lance mumbled to Keith. They both broke down into fits of laughter.

 

“Alright Lance, if you think you’re so funny, why don’t I drag you down with me?” said Shiro. There was an audible ‘ooh’ from Pidge, Hunk, and Coran. It was middle school all over again, but this time it wasn’t Lance delivering the cool comeback. When Shiro looked down to roll up his sleeves, Lance looked towards Keith and placed both hands underneath his chin, fingertips facing in. Keith rolled his eyes at Lance’s seemingly innocent angel face, making sure to stick out his tongue as well.

 

Shiro stepped up to explain the exercise. “So, this is a variation of the exercise usually called ‘minefield.’ Are any of you familiar?” Lance instantly perked up, recognizing the exercise from his days at summer camp.

 

“I slay at minefield,” he said with a nod.

 

Hunk also raised his hand. “They’ve done it on Survivor,” he added. Pidge looked up at him curiously.

 

“Is that the one where the person is blindfolded and the yelling and?” 

 

Hunk gave Pidge a thumb’s up to confirm their lead. Pidge raised their hand as well.

 

“I also watch Survivor.”

 

You could see the laughter behind Shiro’s smile as he continued. “Keith, Allura, in a regular game of minefield one player is blindfolded and has to navigate from one side of the room to the other while listening to the other player’s directions. It’s similar to the maze exercise we did when we first became paladins.” He paused to make sure that Keith and Allura were following. Lance was busy thinking back to his days at summer camp. This exercise would come with good, nostalgic memories. Only this time, he’d get to do it with Shiro, and that was an added bonus. “This version is skewed to accommodate the group. I’ll be tied to Lance and we’ll both be blindfolded while you four direct us around the-- Coran do you have the cones?”

 

Coran dragged out a kart with orange traffic cones stacked together. He began to place them on marked places around the room. Shiro kept his back turned to this, but Lance couldn’t keep his curiosity contained. “Wait, why do you guys have traffic cones?” 

 

“They were used in the hangars,” Allura explained.

 

“I played this video game with traffic cones…” Keith said. Lance noticed that Keith would talk to himself occasionally, it must have been a habit he picked up growing up alone. Lance didn’t know much about Keith’s upbringing. He suspected Keith was an only child, but he wasn’t sure. Part of him wish he knew more, but Lance knew the only person who knew about Keith’s past was Shiro. Another way in which Keith had an advantage over Lance; he knew Shiro before the crew became defenders of the universe.

 

“And the blindfolds?” Shiro asked. Coran handed him two strips of dark cloth, along with a smooth looking rope. Wordlessly, Shiro moved himself so that he and Lance were back to back. He passed Lance the rope, and Lance got the message, passing it back around where Shiro tied the ends into a knot. Shiro and Lance waddled a foot behind the unofficial starting line. Shiro handed Lance a blindfold. With one final sassy look at Keith, the world went dark.

 

Lance was tied to Shiro. Oh  _ hell yes _ , Lance was tied to Shiro. Lance had so many options with his hands dangling where they were. Lance could just, you know, casually touch Shiro’s ass if he so desired. But no, Lance stopped himself from doing that; that was sexual harassment.

 

“Can you both walk sideways at once?” Pidge asked. “That’s probably the safer option, otherwise one of you will have to walk forwards, and the other backwards.”

 

It was hard to figure out whether he was supposed to speak or not when he couldn’t see. Thankfully, Shiro spoke for the both of them.

 

“We’ll try it. Pidge, speak again, we’ll walk towards your voice on three.” Pidge, not knowing what else to do, began rapping.

 

“Pull up in the monster automobile gangster, with a bad-”

 

“Pidge I know that song and please don’t continue, none of us need to hear that.”

 

“Bitch who come from Sri Lanka. Yeah I’m in-”

 

“Pidge!” Shiro said. “Hunk, you go instead.”

 

“Uhmmm.. Antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium, and hydrogen, and oxygen, and nitrogen..” Hunk thought of the first thing that came to mind, which happened to be the periodic table in song form. Lance felt Shiro start pulling, and so Lance followed, walking at the same pace towards the sound of Hunk’s voice until he felt a large hand stop them.

 

“Excellent!” Allura exclaimed with a clap of her hands. “It looks like you two are clear to walk forward a couple of steps.”

 

Shiro began to tug back in the opposite direction for a moment before stopping. “How many is a couple?” he asked. Lance figured that Shiro didn’t think his team would just throw him under the bus like him and Keith had, and now he didn’t plan on fucking around.

 

“At our heights it looks like about six regular steps,” Hunk said.

 

“Yeah, but they’re sideways,” Pidge countered. “Won’t sideways steps be shorter than regular steps?” Hunk mumbled something under his breath after that, but Lance didn’t quite catch it.

 

“Why don’t we just have them walk until we need to stop them, then move them around the obstacle?” Keith suggested.

 

Lance instantly understood what he meant. “Like tetris?” Lance replied.

 

“Yeah,” Keith said, sounding a bit surprised at Lance’s quick comprehension. 

 

“Stop underestimating me, mullet,” Lance said with a grin in what he thought to be Keith’s direction. 

 

“Shut up or I’ll walk you right into a mine.” 

 

“You’d let me explode?” Lance asked, sarcasm clearly evident in his voice and his smug grin. Shiro couldn’t resist the argument, because he chimed in as well.

 

“Hey, you’d let us  _ both _ explode?” 

 

“Shiro, don’t sink to their level, just start walking,” said Pidge.

 

Lance could feel Shiro’s head nod. Lance initiated the steps forwards this time and Shiro fell into step alongside him. They walked slowly and in time, as if marching to a tune only they could hear.

 

“Stop!” Pidge squeaked. Lance and Shiro stopped abruptly and planted their feet in the ground accordingly.

 

“They could have gone a few more steps,” Hunk said.

 

“I believe Pidge is correct, Hunk, it’s better to be cautious. Move to your right.”

 

“Are you sure you mean our right, or do you mean your right?” Shiro asked. He was exhausted by the activity already, and regretted having arranged for it to happen. It was one of Shiro’s least favorite activities. He knew, however, it would be effective for the team to do this particular exercise. He just hadn’t anticipated having to be the one blindfolded and tied up.

 

“Oh, no.” Allura corrected herself. “Our right, that’s Lance’s forward and your backward, Shiro.

 

Lance’s brotherly instincts took over. “I’ve done this before. Um, sort of. This is like dancing, Shiro, do you know how to dance?” Lance asked. Lance loved to dance, and so did his family. He was accustomed to walking backwards and forwards like this without tripping.

 

He felt Shiro nod again. “Yeah, a little bit,” Shiro said. Lance swooned internally.

 

“Well we need to do the two little steps in between each of the big ones,” Lance explained. “It will help us not fall. I really don’t want to fall.”

 

“Lead the way, Lance,” Shiro said. Lance liked the sound of Shiro’s encouraging words. It gave Lance confidence, enough to lead the way if he were to do so. However, in order to walk properly, Lance would not be the one taking the lead.

 

“Actually, Shiro,” Lance said, biting his lip, “we should probably do a 180 so that you’re the one going forwards, and I’ll walk backwards.”

 

Shiro was quiet for a moment. Lance couldn’t tell if he was simply processing the request, or if he was offended that Lance wanted to turn around. “Okay,” he said with a deep breath. The feeling of Shiro’s back expanding against his own was calming to him. “Turn to your left on three. One-”

 

“On three or after three?”

 

“On three, Lance. One… Two… Three.”

 

On three, as Shiro has clearly specified, Lance rotated to his left, shuffling his feet until he felt like he had turned far enough. “How are we looking?” Lance asked as they stopped.

 

“Well you look like a dork,” Lance heard Keith whisper.

 

“I have excellent hearing, you know,” Shiro said loudly. Lance laughed at that, pointing finger guns in what he hoped to be Keith’s general direction.

 

“Yeah,  _ Keith, _ ” Lance said, chiming in.

 

“You, you shut it too,” Shiro insisted. Lance, pushing a giggle back down his throat, remained quiet. “Are we facing the right way?”

 

“You’re good,” Hunk confirmed. He held a thumbs up that Lance and Shiro couldn’t see. Lance was getting antsy already. He wasn’t the type to enjoy remaining still. All he wanted to do was move around in some way. Luckily, Hunk answered Lance’s next question just as he was about to ask it. “You can take about four steps.”

“Ready Shiro?” Lance asked. Shiro responded with the cutest ‘uh-huh’ Lance had ever heard. He began counting out loud as they stepped carefully across the floor. “ _ One _ , two, three,  _ one, _ two, three,  _ one, _ two, three,  _ one, _ two, three.” Lance counted every step as he let Shiro lead him through this weird, backwards waltz. Although they wobbled a little bit, they didn’t fall and that was what counted. 

 

“Great work, boys!” Allura said, hands coming together in an excited clap. Neither Shiro nor Lance could see the smile on Allura’s face but they both knew it was there. Both paladins were thrilled to have made Allura proud, especially Lance. As much as he carelessly flirted, he respected Allura as their leader. She was kind, brave, and a complete badass. She was the perfect mother figure to compliment Shiro as the dad figure of the group. Lance respected both of them, although he appreciated Shiro’s attractiveness as well as his leadership skills.

 

“Just side shuffle forward again, you look clear for a while,” Pidge said

 

Shiro and Lance silently complied, walking sideways until Pidge, calmly this time, told them to stop.

 

“Now you’ll have to go back the other way,” Keith said. Oh, how nice of him to actually contribute! Lance had almost begun to miss his voice, it being so vacant from this exercise.

 

“Wanna turn around again, Shiro?” Lance asked.

 

“No, no, I’m alright. I can manage.”

 

“Alright.” Lance started counting again, in ones, twos, and threes. They were doing fine until Shiro stepped on the back of Lance’s heel causing Shiro to lean back, falling on top of Lance onto the floor. Shiro was a big guy, especially with all of the muscle mass he had. Being pancaked between Shiro and the floor was much nicer in Lance’s daydreams, but right now he couldn’t breathe. 

 

“Shiro,” he wheezed, using all of his strength and leverage to push them onto their sides. He heard muted giggles from the rest of the team. “Great, now we have to get back up,” said Lance.

 

Shiro huffed, not speaking until he had a plan. “If we roll so I’m slightly, but not entirely on top, I can step up diagonally. I think I’m strong enough to carry you if we start to fall again.”

 

“Okay,” Lance replied, much more serious now than he was five minutes ago. “I trust you.” Without any further discussion, Lance found himself with his face pressed up against the floor. This lasted for a few moments before Shiro hoisted the two of them to their feet. Lance was slightly jarred, but he regained his composure.

 

“You’re actually really close to the finish,” Hunk said, sounding surprised. “A few steps and you can clear the finish line.”

 

Lance took the first step, Shiro joining in as they walked until they felt a difference of floor texture. “Did we clear it?” he asked.

 

“Yeah!” Pidge exclaimed. Lance heard their feet pitter-patter across the floor to them. They untied Lance and Shiro from each other. “I’m sorry, I can’t reach your blindfolds.”

 

That earned a genuine chuckle from Lance. “That’s okay, Pidge,” he said as he tugged the blindfold from his eyes. The artificial light of the castle was at first overwhelming, blinding Lance. He blinked hard a few times until he could finally see clearly again. Keith was conversing with Hunk and Allura, they all looked happy. Pidge was standing before him, and Shiro next to him. 

 

“Great job, man,” Shiro said, pulling him into a bro-hug. Lance stiffened at the unexpected contact. His shock faded as fast as it had occurred, allowing him to savor  every second of Shiro’s bear hug. He didn’t have to look at Keith to know that the smile had left his face. On any other day it’d be satisfying to have one-upped Keith. For whatever reason, satisfaction was replaced by an emotion not unfamiliar to Lance. When Shiro let go, Lance stood there and stared at Keith. He noticed the way Keith’s face became more tense and how his smile had dropped into a frown. He wanted Keith to smile again, almost wished he  _ hadn’t  _ gotten a hug from Shiro just so that Keith could regain that momentary happiness.

  
Lance felt guilty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Klance is beautiful, and although this chapter was kind of lacking in the Klance dept. there will be SO MUCH MORE KLANCE in future chapters, so don't fret :D
> 
> Make sure to comment and leave kudos. We love to hear from you guys!!! 
> 
> \- Pand (homeiswherethewritingis)


	6. Elevator Music

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heeey guys! Ready for this chapter? I really like this one. Draon X is such a beautiful planet. 
> 
> Anywho, some translations for this chapter:
> 
> ¿Quién eres tú, mi mamá? -  
> Who are you, my mom?
> 
> Ah, yo apagá tú traductor. Íngles es aburrido a veces, ya me entiendes? -  
> Ah, I turned off your translator. English is boring sometimes, you know what i mean? 
> 
> Song recommendation: Santa Monica Dream by Angus & Julia Stone
> 
> Enjoy this chapter!! :D

The castle-ship’s alarms went off two days later, sometime after lunch. Allura had told them earlier that day they would be stopping on a large planet called Draon X to do various small tasks; restocking the ship, speaking with local leaders, and the likes. Keith was already fully prepared when the alarms sounded, slinging his red jacket over his shoulder and exiting his room. The paladins would be taking their lions but not their suits with them on this excursion. Draon X had a set-up similar to that of Earth’s, so the paladins would be able to breathe and function without their clunky suits. Keith was the second paladin to arrive in the main room, Shiro being the first. Keith knew that Lance would be the last one in since Lance didn’t respond well to alarms and never liked waking up early. Keith took this rare, Lance-free moment to speak to Shiro.

 

“Hey, Keith,” Shiro spoke first, putting a smile on Keith’s face. It was rare that Keith smiled genuinely. The most anyone could usually pull out of him was a smirk- usually that person was Lance - but a genuine smile was hard to come by. Shiro somehow always managed to pull that genuine smile out of Keith, “Excited to see some land again?”

 

He was. Keith was hoping that he’d get to spend some time alone. Of course, spending it with Shiro would be even better but Keith wasn’t willing to push his luck. All he wanted was to handle his task in solitude. “Yeah, I can’t eat space goo all of the time,” Keith said with a shrug. Shiro laughed, flagging Pidge and Hunk over to talk with them.

 

“We were talking about your favorite food, Hunk,” Shiro said with a grin.

 

“Ahi poke? Beef Stroganoff?” he asked. Pidge had began laughing behind the coverage of their hands, having realized the joke. “Oh,” Hunk continued, finally catching on. “The goo. You all  _ know  _ that I make that stuff taste great.”

 

“You make it better than it is plain, I’ll give you that,” Keith admitted. Lance walked in after that, his hair still in a messy, and maybe even endearing bedhead, thus ending the conversation, and beginning the meeting.

 

“Good morning, paladins,” Allura said. “We have a few tasks to complete on Draon X. Shiro and Hunk will go settle a local dispute between two groups. They were apparently allied until they started fighting over some political matter. Pidge, you will join Coran and I in collecting samples from this planet for research. Keith and Lance-” she stopped to give them both a serious look. Keith rolled his eyes. “-you’re going shopping.”

 

“Shopping?” Keith said. He must have misheard, because there was no way that they were landing on an alien planet so they could send him and Lance  _ shopping _ .

 

“I could use a new pair of vans,” Lance said with a shrug, as if the task wasn’t inherently confusing. “I had to leave mine at the Garrison.”

 

Allura tilted her head to the side. “What are… vans?” she asked, her accent more prominent when she came to the word “vans.”

 

“They’re a brand of shoes they make back on Earth,” Pidge said. “Lance has a pair that he wore obsessively.”

 

“I  _ have  _ a pair,” Lance corrected. “Just because I’m not there doesn’t mean they aren’t mine.”

 

Shiro cleared his throat. “Guys, Allura was speaking.” Everyone settled back into silence.

 

“The ship was dormant for thousands of years, and we didn’t get the chance to restock. I have a list of items Coran and I need that will be available. Is that okay, Keith? Lance?” Keith thought the task was simple and mundane but nodded anyway. Lance remained nonchalant about the task, and nodded as well. 

 

It didn’t take long for the crew to land on Draon X. Right away, Keith was hit with a wave of heat as he exited the castle-ship. This planet, he noted, had the most similarities with Earth out of all the places they’ve visited so far. Water surrounded them as if the planet were one giant island. Strangely designed boats and ships floated on the clear, see-through water. Keith had never seen so much water, and at first, all he could do was stare at this new, strikingly beautiful environment. At the time, Lance had wanted to make a sarcastic remark about Keith staring off into space. He couldn’t bring himself to say anything. Keith’s expression was so innocent, so full of awe, and Lance didn’t want to see that look disappear from his face. As Keith stared at the water in awe, Lance stared at Keith in admiration. At that moment, looking at Keith on a planet that felt too much like home, Lance felt warm and soft, like when you’re laying peacefully under a tree and the sun hits you at just the right angle, and you have absolutely no intention of moving because everything in that moment is just so perfect. Moments like that never last for long. Allura gathered the team and gave directions as to where everyone had to go for their assigned task.

 

As they split up, Keith took one longing look at Shiro. It was going to be a long day. Lance was walking next to him, jacket already slung over his shoulder, pushing his sleeves up as they headed towards their destination. Keith thought that Lance, being from California, would have been able to handle the heat. Keith had adapted to high temperatures quickly after he began living in the desert. Compared to the desert, Draon X was comfortable. The surrounding water made the heat more bearable. Perhaps Lance’s jacket was made for much colder weather, since the Garrison did tend to have cooler temperatures. For Keith, Draon X felt like a homely version of his little shack in the desert. He liked it.

 

“Can you even pronounce the names of this stuff?” Lance asked suddenly, pulling Keith out of his thoughts and observations. Keith looked down at the list, squinting at the writing Allura had left them.

 

“To be frank, no, but Allura said to just give the list to the clerk. We have speech translators anyway, it’ll be fine,” Keith said, folding up the list and putting it into his back pocket.

 

Despite its beach town look, Draon X was crowded. It was like Manhattan, except the homes were short while the buildings were taller than any skyscraper on Earth, and there wasn’t a car in sight. People crowded onto to wide sidewalks and some rode bicycle-esque vehicles up and down the narrow roads. Draon X proved easy to navigate, however, and Keith and Lance were able to make it to their destination without getting lost.

 

The two boys stood in front of the biggest building Keith had ever seen. It seemed to stretch far up into the clouds, which happened to be a lavender color. When he looked over at Lance, he was still looking up at the tower.

 

“You’re gonna hurt your neck like that, Lance,” he said.

 

“¿Quién eres tú, mi mamá?” Lance replied with a laugh. Keith had heard Lance speak in Spanish on the castle-ship, sometimes an insult towards Keith or a mumbled statement to himself. But usually, it was an insult towards Keith. It took him only a few seconds to realize that if he could hear Lance speaking Spanish and not English, then his translator must be broken. If Keith’s translator was broken, that meant he would have to stay with Lance. The whole time. Even  _ after  _ they were finished the task. Fuck.

 

“Ah, yo apagá tú traductor. Íngles es aburrido a veces, ya me entiendes?” Lance was still laughing. Did he think that this was some kind of joke? They were on a planet in the middle of space, and Keith’s translator was malfunctioning. This could be dangerous. Keith just couldn’t find the humor in the situation.

 

Suddenly, Lance grabbed Keith’s forearm. Keith watched him in shock as he pushed a button on his translator unit.

 

“I just turned it off while you weren’t paying attention. Calm down, pretty boy.” At that he touched Keith’s hair, and as it happened Keith’s face turned red. Lance went inside before Keith could say anything. He followed him inside, pushing away feelings of anger and embarrassment to get the mission done. When Keith found Lance, he was looking around the building like he was in Gamestop with his parent’s credit card. Keith grabbed him by the neck before he could run off like the energizer bunny. He dragged Lance over to what he thought would be the front desk. 

 

Keith pulled the list from his pocket, setting it on the desk. He opened his mouth to speak but he couldn't get the words out. The person at the counter was taller than him, with orange tinted, ribbed skin, piercing eyes, and markings coming up her neck. She could have been a small, innocent child and Keith still would have let anxiety get the best of him. Living alone in a desert for years hadn’t helped Keith with his social skills.

 

“Hi, our boss sent us to pick up a few things,” Lance said, swooping in with his usual energetic personality. Lance slid the list over the counter to the clerk. She read it over, nodding to herself.

 

“You lads mu’t be runnin quite a big ship,” she said. Her voice was breathy yet smooth. “One o’ you ill ave t’ go to the top floor-” she pointed to the last word on the list. “Rest of ‘em all on floors seven’y three n fifty. You like me t’ call some employees t’ help?” 

 

Lance nodded and smiled.“Thank you very much.” The woman pushed a button behind her counter twice, and after a few moments two other people with employee badges emerged.

 

“Lukael, Ren. Please le’d these men ‘round the buildin?” Both of them nodded, glancing at the list.

 

“The taller one should come with me to the top floor,” said the assistant on the left. Lance flashed a stupid grin at Keith before following the assitant, leaving Keith to go to the intermediate floors.

 

Lance was pretty sure that they were in the space equivalent of the Mall of America. There were oodles of people, of all different alien species, and so many floors. Lance got into the elevator with the man who introduced himself as Lukael. He pressed the button that... well, Lance couldn’t read their number system, but it was at the top of a mass of  _ many _ buttons. He sucked at math, but there were a bunch of rows of ten, then a row of four, and one button at the top. 

 

He felt excited traveling in the elevator, as if he were little kid again. It was bigger than an elevator you would find on Earth, about the size of Lance’s first bedroom as a kid. As a kid, Lance’s bedroom had been tiny, but for an elevator it was huge. It had cushioned benches on either side and the walls were covered with mirrors. Unlike the elevators Lance was used to, this wouldn’t didn’t play any music. Lance found it unsettling.

 

“You guys don’t have elevator music on Draon X?” Lance asked. He didn’t really think about it, he just had to ask.

 

“Elevator music?” Lukael repeated. “In which society do they play music in the elevators?” 

 

Lance sat down on a bench. It was surprisingly comfortable. “Back on my planet, they have elevator music, store music, music is everywhere,” Lance paused, looking up at Lukael, who was leaning against the mirrored back wall. “It’s beautiful.”

 

Lance Sanchez loved music. He loved it more than he loved fish tacos, or pizza, or the waves, and even more than himself. He missed a lot of things about home. He had a guitar back home, and he missed the way it felt in his hands and the beautiful strumming sounds it produced. Lance used to learn some of his favorite songs - most of them were calming and soft songs - on his guitar. He sang, too. He wondered if he would find a guitar here. It wouldn’t be  _ his  _ guitar, but it’d be something.

 

“That could be quite beautiful,” Lukael said. The ride was relatively silent for the next minute or so until they reached the top floor. In the silence, Lance carefully counted the buttons. He was about to walk onto floor 205. 

 

“Holy shit,” Lance said, stepping out onto the floor. The ceiling was clear. Lance could see the sky through the roof of the building, and at the time it was a striking mix of purples and pinks and oranges. Lance knew no sky on Earth could ever compare to the one he was staring at now. Lance pulled his gaze away from the sky. There were large contraptions on the floor and on the shelves.

 

“These are on the list. It is the biggest piping we have. It comes in a big, tall box. That is why I asked you to come get it instead of your boyfriend.”

 

“Oh, nononono, Keith and I? We’re, we’re not dating, no way, not at all,” Lance said.

 

“Dating? Is he not a boy, and your friend?”

 

Lance let out a big sigh, as if he’d been holding his breath the entire time. “Well, I mean. I guess we’re... well… yeah, we’re friends, Lukael.”

He led Lance down an aisle, stopping where there were tall boxes. “You needed two?” Lukael asked.

 

“If that’s what the sheet says, yes,” Lance said with a shrug.

 

“I will help you get them into the elevator.” The orange-skinned boy tilted two boxes away from the stack. Lance took the front, putting the boxes over his shoulder. They were lighter than they looked but still heavy. It was nothing Lance couldn’t handle. Lukael helped him out, lifting the back. He held it a lot lower than Lance did, but it sufficed.

 

“You do this all day? Lance asked. He headed back to the elevator. He instinctively looked for the button to press, but there wasn’t one on the outside. They must have been motion censored, or something like that.

 

“Yes, this is my occupation,” he said. The elevator door opened and Lukael helped him to bring the boxes in and set them down on the floor. “Good luck on your voyage, sir,” he said.

Lance looked up at him, managing a smile. He never got used to people saying things like that. “Thank you very much, and thank you for the help.” The elevator door closed from the top down.

 

Lance’s thoughts went back to the elevator music, or the lack of it. How could you not have elevator music? It was something he never thought about back home, but the absence of it freaked him out. It was so quiet. What did people do, did they actually talk in the elevator? Lance thought that was super weird.

 

A family with translucent skin got into the elevator, greeting Lance as they did, pressed a button, and talked amongst themselves. Well, that answered Lance’s question.

 

It was starting to get too hot for Lance. The extra people with him in the smaller space heated up the elevator enough to irritate him. He pushed up his sleeves again, back from where they had slouched down to his forearms.

 

Another person got in, this one looking reptilian, and got off at the next floor, and then after him, the family got off. In another few floors, the door opened, revealing a grumpy Keith. How lovely. He had some kind of shopping cart filled up about half way. 

 

“Did you enjoy your shopping?” Lance teased.

 

Keith rolled his eyes, blowing a stray strand of his stupid mullet out of his face. “Time of my life.”

 

They didn’t say much to each other, but Lance tapped a beat on the side of the bench to fill the silence. Keith kept his eyes screwed shut, and breathed slowly as the the two sat on the bench. He inhaled for a few seconds, then exhaled for a few more, inhaled, exhaled, inhaled, exhaled. He had his hands balled into fists, his nails digging into the palm of his hand. Lance noticed and started to become concerned.

 

“Keith, are you--” Everything happened too fast, almost too quick for them to register what had happened as it was happening. The light bulb blew out, sparks shooting out either side, bits of light bulb falling to the floor. Then, just as the light bulb blew out, they heard the loudest SCREECH and then all movement ceased. The elevator had stopped. Keith and Lance exchanged a look. There was only one thing they could think to say.

  
“ _ Fuck _ .”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey everyone! pand and i really appreciate all of the love lately, it makes me so happy to know people enjoy this story. this particular chapter is my favorite so far, it starts a scene that i’ve been talking about for months now. a fun fact- i made the mall they’re in twice the size of the old world trade center.
> 
> \- maxx 
> 
> \- - - - - ~
> 
> Hellloooo everyone! Liking the fic so far? I loved this chapter, and I wish Draon X was a real place. It seems so beatiful. Like a Manhattan Beach Town, almost if Manhattan and Venice like merged together to make one awesome place. Editing and including more descritptive details of Draon X was so much fun. Like I just went to town on that. 
> 
> Anywaaaay, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Next chapter is gonna be goooood!!!  
> Make sure to leave kudos and PLEASE PLEASE PLEEEEAAASE comment we love to hear from you guys! It's the best thing ever <3
> 
> \- Pand (homeiswherethewritingis)


	7. Potassium Iodide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We're baaaaack! After such a long time we have returned with a BRAND NEW CHAPTER! WOOP, WOOP!
> 
> Also, we're sorry but not sorry for torturing you in this chapter :) You'll realize what I'm talking about soon. You're just gonna have to read the chapter :) :)
> 
> Well, we hope it was worth the wait and that you enjoy this chapter!
> 
> Enjoooooooy!!!!!!

“Are you  _ sure _ the communicators aren’t just low on battery?” Keith asked. He was hugging his knees and his nails dug into the palm of his hands. 

 

“It’s tech from the ship, it runs on those space crystals, not batteries,” Lance stated. His reply was logical, straight to the point. Lance hadn’t noticed that Keith had become more panicky, more anxious. Keith gave off a cool and collected vibe most days and, although Lance knew it was only a mask Keith liked to wear in order to hide his emotions, Lance had never seen Keith strip off the mask to unveil a more emotional, vulnerable version of himself. The mask he often wore was peeling off his face, and in that moment Keith didn’t care that Lance was getting to see what was underneath.  Lance didn’t notice. Not until he turned to look at Keith. Not until he saw Keith’s hands shaking, if only slightly, and the way in which his muscles tensed, and not tense in the way they get when he’s training but an anxious tense, as if he’s trying to shield himself from the outside world. Lance stared at Keith, his face serious and concerned.

 

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

 

Lance stammered. “I, uh, I just, well you know, I, um, yeah, I was just thinking.”

 

“What about?”

 

“Chicken nuggets. I wanted to tell you. That. Chicken nuggets, are, a blessing. And they should have space chicken nuggets. When we get out of here, we should uh, search for some space nuggets. What’d you say? Ready to search for some space nuggets after we’re rescued?” Lance is grinning down at Keith, and Keith can’t help but smile. 

 

After a while Keith says, “How do you know?” 

 

“How do I know what?”

 

“That we’ll be rescued. That we’ll make it out of here.”

 

“If a cable car can run for a hundred years, an alien elevator can function, right? I mean, eventually it’s going to start up again.”

 

“A… cable car?” Keith asked. He wasn’t being sarcastic or anything - no, Keith really had no clue as to what a cable car was.

 

Lance almost laughed.  “Yeah, I’m from San Francisco, and there are tons of cable cars there. They’re like, individual train cars that travel on the road, and they’re really old.”

 

“You’re from California?” Keith thought about Lance, and realized he knew very little about him. They had been on so many adventures, been so close to death, and yet all Keith could tell you about Lance was his name and the fact that he had a large family. Keith found curiosity creeping up to settle alongside anxiety. Did he want to know more about Lance, or was this a method of distraction? Perhaps a bit of both, perhaps one or the other, but Keith couldn’t tell you which had brought about curiosity.

 

“Uh-huh,” Lance said with a nod. “And you’re from the desert.” This time, Lance laughed and it was light-hearted. This situation didn’t scare Lance, not in the slightest. Lance had seen some weird-ass things in his lifetime. Being stuck in an elevator? That was textbook, dull compared to some of his previous situations.

 

“I, uh,” Keith could feel his anxiety returning, crawling up his throat. Anxiety stopped him from speaking, clogged the passage of words traveling from his brain to his mouth. His brain wanted him to speak, his anxiety said otherwise. He compromised, tucking his knees into his chest as he spoke. “I didn’t always live in the desert, Lance,” he said. He paused. “I grew up in Denver.”

 

“Really?” Lance replied. “You don’t seem like much of a Denver person to me.”  Keith was too emo, too moody to be a Denver person, at least in Lance’s eyes. When Lance had been to Denver, he would have considered it relaxing and even under normal circumstances Keith wasn’t a relaxed person. This was the least relaxed Lance had seen Keith.

 

“Well, I didn’t live there my  _ whole _ life,” Keith said, chuckling towards the end. Lance smiled. He was glad to see Keith loosen up, even if it only lasted for a few seconds. Keith could feel himself tense up again.

 

“How are we getting out of here?” Keith wanted to sound calm, was  _ hoping  _ he sounded calm, but any outsider looking in would notice how anxious Keith was.

 

Keith was a tightly strung kind of guy but he’d never been him  _ this  _ high-strung, not in front of Lance anyway. He needed to get out, to move, to do  _ something _ . Perhaps they could break the glass and then jump out the window. Keith was about to propose it, and then Lance spoke up.

 

“We’ll just have to wait it out.” Lance took a glance at Keith, taking in the look on his face. “Look, it won’t take long for them to find us, right? I mean this is an alien species, I’m sure they’ll find us in no time.”

 

Keith knew Lance was right; the most logical option was to sit and wait it out. But Keith’s anxiety and impulses tended to override logic. His head hit the elevator wall, eyes closed as he made to sure to breathe in and out. Keith opened his eyes. It’s not like they could climb through the ceiling and climb the cables. Well.  _ They could _ . 

 

“Can we try and get through the top hatch, like how they do in the movies?” 

 

“Well we’d have to cut through the ceiling, there’s no hatch,” Lance said.

 

Keith grunted. He was right, wasn’t he? He hated it when Lance was right. “Can we at least check the top? Maybe it’s hidden or something.” 

 

Lance looked at Keith, then up at the ceiling. “Swing the bench, I’ll see if I can find anything.” Keith, already feeling a sense of relief, went to drag the bench into the center of the elevator. He pulled on the bench once, and then again just to make sure. It wouldn’t move, not at all. That was Keith’s one spark of relief and a bench had just snuffed it out.

 

“It’s nailed down?” Lance said from behind him, causing him to jump slightly in shock. “You’re gonna have to get on my shoulders.”

 

“ _ Excuse me? _ ”

 

“Keith, I’m the taller one, you have to get on my shoulders and see if there’s a hatch.” 

 

“Alright, fine.”

 

Lance crouched down, making way for Keith to climb onto his shoulder. He placed one leg over Lance’s left shoulder, than the other over his right. Lance wrapped his arms around Keith’s shins, pushing himself back up to his full height. Keith wavered, but Lance reached a hand around to steady him. Keith wondered how Lance was able to so easily hold him up.

 

“It’s because I’m an older brother,” Lance said.

 

“But I didn’t--”

 

“You were wondering how I was steady like this. Giraffe rides are part of the older brother job description.” He smiled. It held nostalgia, the kind that’s stupidly blissful yet still saddened for what once was. Keith couldn’t see it, but it was there.

 

Keith laughed a little bit. He reached up to the ceiling and began to feel around for some kind of door or button. Lance moves him around, keeping Keith from falling. Keith pressed hard against the smooth surface, but to no avail. He almost didn’t want to believe it, pounding his firsts against the surface in frustration.

 

“Calm down there, Incredible Hulk,” Lance said, laughter light and airy. It made Lance’s shoulders shake and Keith could feel it. He glared down at Lance.

 

“Yeah, whatever, I’m calm. What do you suggest we do, Lance, hmm?” Keith said.

 

“Use your head!” Lance said, mocking a voice that Keith just couldn’t place.

 

“I don’t wanna use my head! That would be dumb.” Lance laughed at his response, bending down so Keith could return to the ground. Lance was still laughing when Keith was on the ground once again.

 

“I can’t believe you completed the line, and you haven’t even seen the movie.”   
  


Keith couldn’t bring himself to reply. Normally he’d ask what Lance was talking about, or snap at him, or say some sassy comment or _something_. But he couldn’t bring himself to say anything. He returned to the corner of the elevator, where he wedged himself between the bench and the elevator wall. Just getting to the corner had been a struggle. Keith hugged his knees where he sat, and after that he had stopped functioning.

 

“Keith, seriously, have you ever seen  _ any _ of the Toy Story movies?” Lance turned around as he spoke, smile bright and warm. It was then that they both looked at each other, Lance with his warm smile and Keith looking helpless, anxious. Lance’s face softened. Keith was always guarded and those walls he surrounds himself with were made with bricks so unbreakable no one could get through them. It was then that Lance could see the wall crumble, could see bricks struggling not to fall, could see Keith be vulnerable for the first time. It broke Lance’s heart. He bent down to Keith’s level, speaking softly.   

 

“Hey. You okay?” Keith shook his head slowly. Lance’s chest hurt. He couldn’t place the feeling, couldn’t exactly give it a name, but he remembered feeling it the first time he landed a flight. It was a good feeling. A good hurt. And yet at the same time painful, because seeing Keith hurt like that made his heart feel weighed down. If he had explained this feeling to anyone, they could have easily told him it was love. But Lance couldn’t figure that out on his own, as most people who are truly in love have a hard time realizing that they are, in fact, in love. He’d think about the ache in his chest afterwards and call it sympathy, then tuck the memory in a safe in the back of his mind to deal with at a much, much later date. It is not until he’s an old man that he realizes; he had fallen in love with Keith Kogane in a broken elevator, on a strange planet. But that’s years from now and, right now, Lance is still young and foolish. 

 

Keith watched Lance’s face as his expression shifted. He then turned away, trying to breathe in and out to control his emotions. In his head he was screaming at himself, to stop being so weak, not to cry, to push through this, to just  _ stop. _ He would do anything to make it stop, to make this stupid fear disappear, so he could stop looking weak… so he could stop being weak in front of Lance. But he couldn’t stop. He just couldn’t.

 

Lance watched as Keith looked up at him, swallowed hard. “Lance, really, I’m cool.” He forced the words out,  each one feeling like sandpaper chalking up his throat. Lance couldn’t help but roll his eyes, “Okay, Keith. You’re fine.  _ Sure _ .” So what? Keith didn’t want to admit that he  _ clearly  _ wasn’t okay. It was fine by Lance, it wasn’t like he was the one panicking.

“Yeah, Lance, I’m  _ fine _ ,” Keith insists. There’s a sharpness to his voice, an almost-growl indicating his growing frustration.

 

“I mean, you are pretty fine,” Lance said with a quiet laugh and a wink.

 

“I can’t  _ believe _ you’re making jokes at a time like this!” And just like that the hothead was back on his feet, fists clenched. Lance crossed his arms in response, taking a step back towards the corner.

 

Lance scoffed. He glanced at Keith’s clenched fist, and then back up at his face. “Look, just... stay out of my way. One of these buttons will get us out of here.” Lance pressed a few random buttons. He caused quite a few to light up, some an orange haze while others were a bright purple. Although pretty they didn’t do anything but light up. And then Lance noticed the blue button - and of course, he  _ had  _ to press the blue button - and water started pouring down like rain, Draon X’s version of sprinklers. Keith let out a frustrated, “Lance,” before pushing past him.

 

“Let me at these,” he grumbled, slamming his hands down and across a whole few rows of buttons. A static hum came and went, the doors tried to press open, but couldn’t, and an emergency light flickered. 

 

“Jesus Christ, Keith, you’re not helping, you can’t just slam things!” Lance tried to press his way back in, only cornering Keith who had turned around to face Lance. Hums were now joined by buzzes and whirs, the elevator was shaking slightly, red flashing lights were blaring and lighting up the newly darkened elevator. 

 

“You asshole! Now we’re gonna be stuck in this elevator forever and I’m gonna die in here with you!”

 

“At least I suggested we look for a way out, at least  _ I  _ didn’t set off the sprinklers, at least-”

 

Out of instinct, Lance grabbed the collar of Keith’s stupid shirt, balling it up in his fist and drawing him closer. Keith could feel Lance’s breath, noticed how his own breathing was harsh and ragged. He looked at Lance’s lips and then his eyes and then his lips. His own mouth felt dry.

 

“You wanna know something, Keith?”

 

He practically whispered it, Keith was amazed he even realized what he was being asked. He answers, quietly, “What?”

 

Alarms start blaring, forcing Lance to shout over the “eeeee-oooo eeeeee-oooo eeeee-oooo” blasting throughout the elevator. He pulls Keith closer, fist tightening to get a better grip on Keith’s shirt. Their noses are practically touching, faces almost touching.

 

“ _ Sometimes, I really want to fucking ki-- _ ”

 

The metal doors whirred open. There stood Lance, face inches away from Keith’s, both of them soaking wet.

 

And there, outside the elevator doors, stood Hunk, jaw to the floor as a bright pink plastic bag fell to the floor.

 

All at once, three voices began yelling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I am going to first off apologize for making you all wait so long for a new chapter. I have been going through a lot with juggling school and a lot of emotional stuff, which I am happy to say has gotten much better. But I am back, WE are back, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter even though it was painful because THEY CAME SO CLOSE TO KISSING?????? AHHHHHHH!!!!!! Or... did they?
> 
> I promise they will kiss at SOME point, though, this is just the start ;)
> 
> Song Recommendation = Kiss The Sky by Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra


	8. Speechless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So its been a year. Left you all on this MASSIVE cliff hanger. Were you shook? I was shook editing it. I plan this fic out with maxx and still, I was shook.
> 
> So... wanna know what happened after? The aftermath of the climatic almost-fight (almost-kiss?) 
> 
> Haha well, read on to find out! I know its been a year so for those still reading this fic thanks for sticking around. It's mostly (okay more like 100%) my fault for not getting around to editing it (busy with college stuff and the like). But I'm focused more on creative writing now that I'm all set for college and I need the editing practice too so! Win-win for everyone involved. :D
> 
> Hope you enjoy! More to come... ;)
> 
> \- Pand

Lance jumped away from Keith, his head hitting the glass window of the elevator. The thud of his head against the glass brought sound into the tense silence. Keith then began shouting what could only be obscenities in another language. Lance’s translator was freaking out causing Keith’s words to become a garbled mix of English and, what Lance assumed was, Korean. In a panic, Lance switched off the translator and locked eyes with Hunk. They communicated silently, Hunk’s face saying, “I know what I saw and what I saw was you about to kiss Keith and boy, are we going to talk about this!” while Lance’s face said, “You saw nothing Hunk Garett, We are not going to speak about this Hunk Garett, We are going to pretend this never happened and you will not open your big mouth to tell this to anyone or I will have to end this friendship right here, right now, Hunk Garett!” Hunk raised an eyebrow, signaling that he wasn’t going to back down. With Keith still yelling obscenities in Korean, Lance dragged their bags out of the elevator so that he could drag Hunk away from Keith. 

“Lance I know you know what I saw and I know I know what I saw so -” 

Lance stopped walking to plant a hand over Hunk’s mouth. “You know nothing, Hunk Garrett.” He stared at Hunk with wide eyes, awaiting a reply.

Hunk squints at Lance, signaling that he’d drop the subject for now but he was definitely not letting this go. He would, however, be play along and change the subject. For now. “Hey a Game of Thrones reference! I’m proud of you Lance, I knew you were secretly watching it. Aw damn… we’re probably missing the new season on Earth, huh? I don’t even know what month it is, let alone how many Starks are left.” Hunk continued to babble as they walked away from the elevator as he carried his pink bag and dragged Keith’s shopping cart behind him. Keith followed behind Lance and Hunk, carrying the two boxes. Hunk was mid-rant about how many dragons it would really take to obliterate King’s Landing when they made it back to the lions.

Everyone had returned to the castle ship long before Keith, Hunk, and Lance made it back. Hunk had to do some grocery shopping. Since ingredients from other planets were different from that on Earth, Hunk spent a long time trying to find the ingredients closest to what he needed. Allura had called him when she, Pidge, Coran, and Shiro had all returned to the ship but Lance and Keith still hadn’t. After his shopping, he went in search of the pair - while taking time to stop and check out some basic alien tech the vendors had been selling - and found them in the elevator, Keith and Lance’s faces mere inches apart in what Hunk could unfortunately not unsee as an almost-kiss. Thus, there the three found themselves, finally back on the castle-ship.

Allura was waiting to greet them when they made it back. When she heard the lions land, she turned around, looking relieved to see them.

“We were worried!” she exclaimed, giving Lance a quick hug. “I’m so glad you’re safe, Lance, but where’s Kei--”

“Uh-uh,” he said, making a zipping motion with his hands. “No Keith for me right now, Keith machine broke, had enough. I’ll be in my room just pretending that I don’t exist, no one come get me unless Ryan Reynolds asks for me directly, or if we have to form Voltron, I guess.” With two finger guns Lance turned on his heel, and was out of that room faster than anyone could ask “why?”

Despite Lance’s disappearance, the question still remained… where was Keith? Not far behind Lance, to be exact. He had the remaining cargo on the hand truck and was lugging it out towards the ship. He was about a third of the way up the hill when Hunk had doubled back to help him as well, leading them back into the room where everyone but Lance remained.

“Now all of my... ducks are in a row, as you all would say,” Allura said with a smile, giving Keith a hug upon seeing him as well.

“Yeah, uh, so happy I’m back, guys, I’m just, ah--” Why was lying so hard for Keith today? He was losing two-for-two as of now, nearly choking in front of the majority of the team. “I’m just a little bit tired. I’m gonna go… sleep. I’ll see you all at breakfast, goodnight!” Keith rushed away in an eerily similar fashion as Lance did not ten minutes ago, just as fast but he had stuffed his hands in his pockets, leaving the rest of the team in a predicament: What happened in that mall?

“Team Meeting.” 

Shiro’s “strict dad” voice boomed through the room and halls of the castle-ship. Keith heard it as he continued towards his room and caught a chill. Whatever was about to go down in there, Keith was glad that he was missing it. He shut the door to his room and stood with his back against it, taking a few slow breaths. Today had been ridiculous and he needed time to process what the hell was going on with him. Keith turned the lights out and laid down on his bed face-down.

Lance, on the other hand, had weaseled his way below his bed. It was uncomfortable and cramped, sure, but the vent he could hear through best was below here. He was no stranger to eavesdropping, in fact, Lance was quite the expert. Having grown up in such a big family, Lance was always listening; vents, cups against the wall, spying under doorways… how else does one acquire information in a household? His slender frame had always helped, allowing him to slip into some narrow spaces. He kept his ear pressed to the grate, breathing slowly as he listened in on the group.

“Really? You didn’t see anything happen, Hunk?” That voice was unmistakably Pidge, and they were pressing Hunk for answers. Lance could only assume that they were asking about something recent, and their tone was strict.

“Nah, man,” Hunk insisted, although he sounded like someone who was lying but wasn’t good at lying - which, he was.“They were just acting kind of weird when I got there, I don’t know what could have happened.”

There was a team meeting, this Lance had known from hearing Shiro’s “you’re grounded” voice in the halls, but he had figured out it was about him and Keith. The only thought going through Lance’s mind was, “ohnononoohgodohnoohno.” The last thing Lance wanted was his teammates and friends discussing his and Keith’s relationship, something which he wasn’t sure he fully understood yet, at least definitely not after today.

From what Lance could hear, Hunk wasn’t quite spilling the beans yet, but Lance didn’t know how long he would last. Lance could only hope Hunk would keep in in enough for them to lose suspicion, or...

“Don’t press him, Pidge. It’s been a long day for everyone,” he heard Shiro say. 

…or they stop talking about the subject. That worked for Lance. God Bless Shiro!

“What happened doesn’t matter, what matters is getting them to work together again. They can’t hate each other, or act like they have, for much longer.”

“They don’t hate each other.” Two voices spoke at once, Lance couldn’t quite tell but it seemed as if it had been Pidge and Hunk.

“They definitely don’t hate each other,” Hunk added. Lance sighed. So much for hoping that Hunk could keep his mouth shut long enough for the subject to die down. He was on the verge of giving away everything! 

But Lance did have to give Hunk credit - he didn’t hate Keith. When he looked at Keith his body got hot. He wanted to slap him, but also kiss him, maybe, he wanted to push him into an abyss but he wanted to protect him too… Lance was so confused. He despised this feeling, and Keith probably didn’t share it, whatever it was. His only solution was just to avoid the Red Paladin.

At this point, Lance decided there was no point in continuing to listen. He didn’t feel like listening to Hunk talk about… whatever happened back there to the group and then have to hear all their assumptions. Besides, he knew he’d feel even more troubled about his and Keith’s relationships if he had to hear the opinions of several other people.  
He crawled out of his snooping spot under the bed and laid down on the floor. He needed to clear his head after an emotionally confusing day. 

Although Lance was done talking about him and Keith, the rest of the group were not.

“There is something we can do to make them work their issues out. It worked the last time I did it.”

“What is it?” Allura asked.

“I just locked them in my room and had them sit on opposite sides and talk until they cooled down.”

“How long ago was that?” Coran, this time.

“Eh, not too long ago.”

“Well they’re fighting again,” said Pidge. “So it obviously didn’t work all that well.”

“They have a point,” Allura responded. “And just by the way Lance was acting, I think he’s going to avoid Keith at all costs.”

“Same with Keith. The kid barely sleeps, he’s just playing the avoidance game. They’ll crack eventually,” Shiro added.

“What if they don’t?” Coran asked quietly. He seemed genuinely worried, the poor guy. The others seemed worried, too, at the idea of both boys being in such a state and so unable to work with each other. Everyone, that is, except for Pidge.

“Then I have a plan!”

“That sounds wonderful Pidge, but, let’s not worry about it now. I think we should just send Lance and Keith some dinner, room service style. Especially Lance, he’s getting way to skinny now, anyway,” Shiro replied.

Unbeknownst to the other paladins, Lance had fallen asleep on the floor before they could send any food his way. He had been just thinking about the whole situation when he got agitated and grabbed a blanket from his bunk to curl up into. It was knitted by beings from one of the planets they had visited - the planet with all the fields, he thinks but can’t remember. The blanket was filled with the varying shades of blues and greens that can be found in the ocean waters, all interlocking to make it look like the sea. It was the one thing he had that reminded him of home. He had curled up in it, finding warmth and comfort, and it wasn't long before he had drifted off to sleep.

Keith, on the other hand, wished he could sleep. His brain kept whirring, cogs consistently turning, his mind never taking a breath or pause. He didn’t want this anymore. He wanted to be alone in the desert again, that was what he told himself. He told himself that everything would be better if he was where he was meant to be-- alone.

Another part of him, which he pushed away time and time again, refuted those ideas. That part of him that he hated so fucking much showed him thankful refugees, team shenanigans, bright white smiles and deep blue eyes, coffee colored hair, and-- Tears started falling. He hated every second of it, he didn’t understand why he felt this way. He didn’t want to feel this way but yet every time his mind wandered off he caught glimpses of bright laughter and that attractive, shit-eating grin and sparkling eyes and... blue. So much blue. 

He stuffed his face down into his pillow; and let the tears soak the pillowcase. He felt exhausted; too exhausted to feel, too exhausted to even exist. He kept crying into his pillow, crying out every feeling that he’d kept bottled up for the last few months. Subconsciously, in a place much further than the walls slowly breaking down in his mind, Keith knew that he needed this. He knew that he needed to cry, remember being told by Allura how healthy crying can be. Yet he felt vulnerable, horrible, and gross. 

Eventually, he fell asleep, pillow covered in dry tears.

Lance chomped on some of Hunk’s empanadas as he watched the tall Samoan leave his room. Hunk knew him all too well, and was a sinfully good cook. The smell of empanadas woke Lance up, and his door was open before Hunk could even knock. He spied another tray of food in Hunk’s hands as he left, implying that Keith had fled to his room as well. How fitting!

Lance poked half of his head out from his doorway, watching Hunk hover in front of Keith’s doorway. He knocked softly, but Hunk didn’t say anything, meaning Keith hadn’t responded to the knock. Hunk carefully pressed the door open. As he could see, but Lance couldn’t, Keith was face down on his pillow, a few tears still trickling down. Without a word, Hunk set his tray down near the doorway, closed the door, and left.

In the morning, the tray still lay there untouched. And Keith was still face down in his pillow, fast asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you miss us? :D
> 
> Well, I hope you liked this chapter that you all had to patiently wait a YEAR for (my fault entirely). 
> 
> So many emotions, so angsty. Agh. I swear these boys become happy, but happiness is a journey, no? Also they're kinda trying to figure out all their feeeeeelings. Cause feelings can be confusing. Don't worry, they end up happy bois!
> 
> Also, the song rec is just a song I was listening to while uploading this and also it is kind of an angsty song so, it kind of fits.
> 
> Song Rec = 505 by Arctic Monkeys

**Author's Note:**

> hey everyone! hopefully this fic is doing justice to the lovely headcanon it was based off of thus far. my best friend and i co-wrote this, so if you want to talk to us about it, be our guest!  
> maxx- pansexualjakeenglish.tumblr.com  
> pand- homeiswherethewritingis.tumblr.com
> 
> chapter song recommendation- i hate you so much by anarbor


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